"Mank" Review - Cinema Reflecting the Ages

The magic of Hollywood is always a deep heart and soul contender for the Oscars. It’s that precious fine spirit that made Citizen Kane hailed as one of the best films ever made (a decade or two later course after its release). It’s that kind of dark magic that is explored in David Fincher’s new movie, “Mank”, which focuses on the screenwriter of the acclaimed 1941 movie.

If you don’t know David Fincher from The Social Network, you know him from Gone Girl. And if not that, surely from Mindhunter. It’s hard to avoid his presence as he is one of the best directors making movies today. There’s a special craft to his style of directing that does not go unnoticed. You can see it in the lighting, the acting, and the crisp style/flow. I would go as far to say this is probably David Fincher’s most perfectly constructed film ever. Social Network could be easily debated upon with that, but this kind of hard work in my opinion didn't go as hard as other projects of his. Everything he does to take you back to the early days of Hollywood and make you feel like you’re watching something from a different time In the year 2020 is fascinating and all around stupendous That could probably be attributed to the fact that he is taking this script not from himself or Aaron Sorkin, but from his late father, Jack Fincher, who wanted to desperately make this movie before his sudden passing 2 decades ago. It can easily be said that Jack stands up there with the rest of those fabulous screenwriters and was indeed taken from us too soon. It's also important to note everything else like the acting from Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, and many others, and the jazzy 1930s music by Trent and Atticus, is truly top notch.

The only fault I would note in all of this is while Jack Fincher’s writing is superb, it had a handful of moments that were either missing relevant information, or giving us too much information. In usual circumstances, that might not be a big deal; but when the story is presented in this particular way, which is switching back and forth between the writing of the Citizen Kane script and the backstory of Mank’s life, it leads to quite a few confusing moments, many of which I had to wikipedia what exactly happened, which is never a good thing to do after a film is finished.

That last complaint though may be a moderately sized criticism, but it’s also drawing straws. There’s so much to praise and appreciate about “Mank” and if you get anything out of reading this, it’s simply to just be prepared to follow all the plot lines very closely. Use that subtitle button when you’re watching it on Netflix and don't feel bad if you miss a thing or two along the way. You’re not watching Tenet, but with a little preparation and eyesight, there’ll be so much you get out this new Oscar buzzing piece of work. If the mission was to mirror another gem of cinema, “Mank” absolutely gets a passing grade.

Two Nebs Up!