Director Report Card: David Fincher (2020)

12. Mank

On the surface, a biographic film about beloved Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz probably seems like blatant Oscar bait. There's nothing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science loves to celebrate more than the history of (American) film. And yet, quite unexpectedly, “Mank” is a personal project for David Fincher. His father, Jack Fincher, began writing the script thirty years ago. It was a passion project for David's dad, who died in 2003. The director previously almost made the movie in 1997, with Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster set to star. That version stalled and it was for the better. Fincher would finally bring the long developing project to the theater screens – or Netflix menus anyway – last year.

In 1940, RKO wunderkind Orson Welles was given complete creative freedom to make whatever movie he wanted. And the movie he wanted to make was “Citizen Kane.” He recruited Herman J. Mankiewicz, a known Hollywood hellraiser, to write it. Recovering from a broken leg and writing via dictation, Mankiewicz has sixty days to complete the script. As he works on the story, he reflects on his past. On his time working on the M-G-M back lot, where he butted heads with studio executive Louis B. Mayer and newspaper magnet William Randolph Hearst... Who would provide direct inspiration for Mank's script. 

“Mank” is a film overflowing with love for the cinematic form. From the opening minutes, Fincher shows his love and fidelity to film history. Cigarette burns appear in the corner of the screen before scene transitions. As Mank remembers his past, words from a screenplay appears on-screen to establish the time and place. The story isn't just about the making of a movie but also indulges in the cinematic language of the forties. Fedoras, classy dames, and lightning-fast dialogue co-exist alongside slightly chunky montages, antiquated titles, and wonky rear projection car rides. “Mank” isn't just a homage to “Citizen Kane” but to all forms of classic cinema.

The film's greatest homage to the golden age of cinema is Erik Messerschmidt's utterly gorgeous cinematography. “Mank” is shot in crisp black-and-white. The lights filter through the shades or glow from fire places in all the perfect ways. It's notable that the scenes set in 1940, as Mank is composing “Kane,” are lit in a more naturalistic – though no less gorgeous – way. The flashbacks, meanwhile, are painted in this film noir-esque paintbrush. This is another way “Mank” speaks to the power of the silver screen. Films are like dreams and memories, projected straight from our subconscious into theaters. “Mank” perfectly understands this, putting together amazing images to subtly presents the divide in its story.

Another pitch perfect homage to “Mank's” era is the fantastic score. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score is full of foreboding pounding piano notes, ominous strings, and mournful horns as intentional callbacks to “Kane's” widely famous score. Yet there are also more playful moments in the score, with almost mischievous sounding notes and melodies or boozy bass. When the time comes, Ross and Reznor also up the dreamier sounds, mostly during Mank's creative moments. Not only does the music bring “Kane” to mind, without directly quoting it, it also so perfectly sounds like the 1940s to me. Maybe not the real forties but at least the one that exists in the old movies. 

More than anything else, “Mank” is a beautiful homage to a real life hero. Herman J. Mankiewicz was a silver-tongued man that was always ready to speak truth to power. All throughout the film, he takes every opportunity he can to call people like Mayer and Hearst on their bullshit in his own sly manner, in such a way that sometimes people don't notice he's insulting them. In the final act, Mank becomes representative of every other unrepresented talent in Hollywood. As he demands to receive credit for writing “Kane,” he even stands up to his own director, the man writing his checks. Mank represents someone determined to stand up for what's right, even when it costs him.

Bringing Mankiewicz to life is Gary Oldman. Oldman is the perfect person to embody Mank's acerbic wit. Oldman has the ideal handle on the fast-paced dialogue. He cuts into every one of Mank's witty turns-of-phrase with the perfect amount of sardonic glee. Even in his most self-destructive moments, like the titanic drunken rant that provides the film's climax, Oldman retains that fantastic sense of humor that makes Mank so goddamn likable. Yet he has quiet moments too, self-deprecating moments, that expose the softer side of this man. Say what you will about Oldman as a man but he's a terrific actor. This may be his best performance yet, combining his gift for bombast with a more restrained abilities. 

Of course, like all great men on the silver screen, Mank has his demons too. He's an alcoholic, constantly struggling to stay dry. He's depicted as blind drunk multiple times throughout the story. Even while recovering from the broken leg, he convinces the house caretaker to slip him bottles of lodium. He's also a compulsive gambler, making bets on random coin tosses and leaves falling out of trees. Yet these flaws cover up insecurities, like the guilt he feels over falling to prevent a friend's suicide. Or a time his sarcasm backfires on his stenographer. This is not the only way he tries to make-up for past mistakes. He also personally paid to transports the same housekeeper's village out of Nazi Germany, an act he insists on keeping secret. He was, to put it simply, a complicated man.

While Oldman's Mank obviously dominates the film, he is backed up by an impressive supporting cast too. Amanda Seyfried has never been better utilized here, as Marion Davis. Hearst's girlfriend of the time, Seyfried is utterly delightful. She can wrestle with the stylized dialogue while being perfectly charming the entire time. Lily Collins is well-utilized as the stern but fragile counterpoint to the exaggerated figures of Mank's memories. Charles Dance's deeply intoning voice, used sparingly, makes Hearst a towering and intimidating figure. And Tom Burke does a damn good Orson Welles impersonation, who is smartly kept as this mythic off-screen icon for most of the movie.

A film about screenwriters in the thirties and forties probably doesn't seem like a very relevant story to our modern world. Yet “Mank” also reflects on our own times in interesting ways. A subplot in the film involves the upcoming election between socialist Upston Sinclair and conservative Frank Merriam. Merriam demands that M-G-M produce propaganda reels to discredit Sinclair. The testimonial in the news reel are actors, a black man and a German cast as the Sinclair supporters. This is, in other words, fake news. Fincher and his team make sure to target the real root behind these deceptions. Millionaires like Hearst put the pressure on people to enforce their worldview, to make sure who they approve of stay in power. This is made all the more apparent in a shared anecdote from a supporting character about being physically intimidated by Boss Tweed goons as a boy. The rich use force – intellectual or literal force – to get what they want.

From a particular angle, “Mank” probably seems like one great big reference to “Citizen Kane.” The film is actually pretty subtle about this. Obviously, the musical score and the visuals are heavily inspired by the Welles' classic. Yet Fincher makes sure to include several specific homages to the original movie. Such as a bottle falling from Mank's hand mimicking the infamous snow globe image from “Kane.” Motifs that were present in that film, like flashing light bulbs or mirrors, reappear here as well. The shadow drowned mansion that is the film's climatic location obviously owes a debt to Kane's Xanadu. Yet “Mank” is far more than the “Citizen Kane” fan-film it sounds like on paper.

That Fincher would make a feature length homage to “Citizen Kane” is, in retrospect, not too surprising. One can see shades of Welles' classic in the black-and-white images of so many of Fincher's early music videos. Finding where “Mank” fits into the thematic concerns of Fincher's career is a little trickier. There's no grand conspiracy or criminal masterminds at work here. Instead, “Mank” continues to show the director's interest in exploring the psychology behind difficult people. Mank isn't a mysterious killer, a plotting femme fatale, or a cold-hearted tech billionaire... But he is yet another Fincher protagonist that is uncompromising in his vision, that damn near destroys himself as he moves forward with a single-minded determination towards his goal.

Debuting among much hype, “Mank” had a somewhat lukewarm reception among a lot of critics and especially the Film Twitter/Letterboxd tastemakers crowd. I don't know if people were expecting more from Fincher or if a story about old white guys seemed especially irrelevant in 2020. (Though it's not) The movie still managed to grab the most of all Academy Award nominees this year, winning several in the technical categories. In ten years or so, I think “Mank” will be better received. It's a gorgeous and brilliant homage not just to “Citizen Kane,” not just to all of movie-making, but especially to the irrepressible spirits that make this business we call show possible. [Grade: A]

David Fincher has been attached to an almost countless number of unrealized projects over the years. I guess that's what happened when you're one of the most respected filmmakers in Hollywood. A few come to mind for me as especially interesting: Adaptations of comic books, like Frank Miller's “Hard Boiled” or a new version of “Heavy Metal,” or classic novels, like Arthur C. Clark's “Rendezvous with Rama.” Around the time he was working on “Zodiac,” he was attached to a comic-inspired film about another uncaught serial killer: The Cleveland Torso Murderer. 

Even though his movies aren't exactly known for mindless thrills, the director has still been attached to would-be blockbusters as well. Such as a big budget Disney movie based on “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” a new version of “Cleopatra” with Angelina Jolie, and even a sequel to “World War Z.” (One assumes Fincher got attached to that as a favor to his buddy Brad Pitt.)

None of these came to fruition, so whose to say what will actually be next for the director? Yet it's increasingly looking like his next project will re-team him with Andrew Kevin Walker. It's another off-beat comic adaptation called “The Killer,” inspired by a French comic, about the life story of a hitman. After backing the series “Mindhunters” and “Mank,” Netflix seems ready to back the bill for that long-simmering project as well. I'm looking forward to it, as this project renewed my interest in the filmmaker. Go figure, this David Fincher guy is actually pretty talented.