6 years. It has been 6 years since one of the best working director’s today has come out with a feature. I have always had a love for Fincher. Ever since I truly gained an appreciation for film, David Fincher was the first director to give my a different perspective on the art form.
Mank tells the story of film critic and screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, and how he co-wrote the script for Citizen Kane. The film also shows us 1930’s Hollywood from the perspective of Herman. Let it be known that I haven’t seen Citizen Kane, nor any work from Mankiewicz and Orson Welles. I was hoping to watch the critically acclaimed picture before Mank came out, but I never found time.
The veteran director has returned in stylish fashion, with another finely crafted film. It is well shot, edited, snappy dialogue. It has everything that one can expect from Fincher. He certainly hasn’t lost his technical touch, and this cements film that statement. At the very least, this film is frequently engaging. Gary Oldman turns in another stellar performance as the man himself, Herman Mankiewicz. The supporting cast is also a nice addition, with great work coming from Amanda Seyfried.
Last year we had Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a love letter to cinema directed by Quentin Tarrantino. Here Fincher is aiming for a similar approach but with a vasty different result. One that is a lot more cynical, showing things like greed, corruption, and the politics of cinema.
David Fincher has always had impressive skill with his characters. Taking persons who are either fictional or real life individuals and exposing them for the flawed creatures they are, and sometimes even the villain’s that they are. I read up on Herman Mankiewicz, and one of the most interesting things that I found out about him was his struggle with alcoholism, especially during the later years in his career. I feel like that aspect wasn’t taken to it’s fullest potential here, it was cast aside and felt unimportant. Not only that, but I feel like I don’t know much about the man coming out of the film, not as much as I would like.
The timeline itself wasn’t handled that well either. In The Social Network, Fincher effortlessly glides over the timeline of Zuckerberg’s lawsuit, as well as his time at Harvard creating Facebook. In Mank, the combination of past and present isn’t so seamless, and feels disjointed.
Mank is certainly a well crafted film, made by a true auteur. But this feels like more of an exercise, and one that is far from the director’s best work.
Cedric Cinema 