Welcome back to ‘A Brief Review’ a series of brief reviews on films from the present day and all the way back in time. Hoping to filter through the commotion and give some decent reviews of some rather decent films.
Mank is the historical drama surrounding the story of
Citizen Kane and writer Herman Mankowitz’s (Mank) struggles to cope with
his surprising creation of the Hollywood masterpiece in a world of cinema that
was dominated by politics and rigidity. The film underlines why Citizen Kane
was such a revolutionary piece, a script met with such a great deal of intrigue
and opposition due to it is unique style and emotion. Obviously, Citizen
Kane proved to be a beacon of light for the future of film language. A new
structure of Mis en Scene, a basic structure of how to make the Hollywood
blockbuster of the future.
The history of Citizen Kane is fractured and filled
with contradiction about who actually wrote the blockbuster. Mank places
a huge amount of support in the idea that Citizen Kane was primarily
written by Herman Mankowitz, meaning that Orson Welles was merely a late
contributor. However, the more popularly recognised story is that Citizen
Kane was much more of a collaboration between Orson Welles and Herman
Mankowitz. It is of course more understandable due to the fact that Welles
directed and starred in the film which means it would be pretty hard for Welles
to not have his own profound impact on the project. Mank does a great
job of displaying the understated brilliance of Herman Mankowitz, but then
consequently ignores how integral Orson Welles was to its creation.
My main issue with Mank was that I could never truly get
immersed in the plot, it seemed to drift along nicely without ever really challenging
me. The use of flashbacks was intriguing, but in turn made the film feel quite
stop start throughout. Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried both shine respectively
and will surely be large fixtures of the award ceremonies to come. Oldman
especially was charming in his witty portrayal of the eccentric Herman
Mankowitz. A special mention must also be made of Tom Burke who presents a memorable
resemblance of the Hollywood legend – Orson Welles.
As pleasant and informative that Mank was, I still cannot
help but feel it was fine and nothing more. David Fincher is already regarded
as one of the most distinctive and brilliant filmmakers out there and for me, Mank
will probably end up being one of his more average projects. This does not mean
that it was a bad viewing experience though, and I would urge any cinema lover who
has not seen Citizen Kane before to give both films a watch.
Mank isn’t just about the struggle to confirm who
actually wrote the masterpiece Citizen Kane, it highlights the tiresome
politics of Hollywood that are as present now as they were back in the 1930’s.
My Rating: 6.8/10
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