Mank

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🎙️ EPISODE 304: 02.05.2021 Mank don't stank, that's for sure. Though it is hard to imagine a film with a narrower appeal coming out with such money and fanfare behind it this day and age. The black-and-white retelling of the Citizen Kane script origin story is very much made in a style that at least pays homage to films of Hollywood's golden age, even if doesn't downright embody them. It's so inside baseball at times, however, that I felt like I needed multiple Wikipedia tabs open to truly follow the plot's intricacies. But, that being said, feel free to let your mind wander; the movie still works. You don't need to be an expert on the sociopolitical undertones or the corrupt mechanisms which churned out film after film in the 1940s or even the Pauline Kael-fueled backstory which really set this in motion. Gary Oldman and a barrage of character actors (Amanda Seyfried included) are more than up to the task of delivering the goods here. This film should have a second life when it, at the very least, it kills the Academy Awards nominations day. It is THAT KIND OF FILM, a movie about the movies, which Oscar loves more than almost anything else.

As far as how this fits in the great filmography of David Fincher, I'd say it's middle of the pack. A clear passion project, in development since the mid-90s, Mank was made from a script by his late father, Jack. The parallels are obvious, but the broader view on how the sausage gets made is the most interesting take, in my opinion.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 303 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 305 ⫸

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