Mank
Directed by David Fincher
- drama
- history
The story
1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane.
What it’s like
Black-and-white photography that imitates 1930s studio cinema: high-contrast lighting, deep-focus compositions with several planes of action sharp at once, and slow, deliberate camera moves through smoky rooms, dim studio offices and sunlit San Simeon-style estates. Sound is a deliberate period artifact, with crackling dialogue, warm mono-feeling ambience and a jazz-inflected score that surfaces in lulls and cuts out abruptly. Flashbacks arrive as hazy, grainy memories, and the whole film has the glossy, slightly sour texture of Old Hollywood: velvet-lit parties, cigarette haze, gin in tumblers, ink-stained typewriters clattering late into the night. The vibe is sardonic, melancholy and fast-talking, a witty bitterness that softens into regret. It suits a late night alone, a film-buff evening, or a slow weekend when you want talk-heavy atmosphere rather than action. Its pace is brisk in the dialogue and contemplative between scenes, following a hard-drinking, disillusioned writer slowly confronting what his talent has cost him and what he has sold. Intensity is low: some drunken arguments and a few bitter barbs, with no violence, gore or sexual content. It is for people who love films about filmmaking, sharp period dialogue, and the seductive look of classic cinema.
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