{"id":21700,"date":"2020-12-03T10:53:57","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T18:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=21700"},"modified":"2020-12-03T10:53:57","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T18:53:57","slug":"mank-details-the-creation-of-a-cinematic-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=21700","title":{"rendered":"MANK Details the Creation of a Cinematic Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This film debuts Friday, December 4th<\/sup> on\nNetflix.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citizen Kane<\/em> was a landmark film that caused a great deal of controversy upon its release. This was because of the perceived similarity between the movie\u2019s characters and several real-life figures, as well as the use of fresh camera angles and cinematic storytelling techniques. The end results became a classic that is still admired today as one of (if not the) greatest films ever produced? So, what was it like to create the picture and who truly inspired the screenplay? Mank<\/em> is a biopic that attempts to tell the story behind the story entirely through the eyes of the feature\u2019s co-writer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie cuts between a few time periods in the life of\nHerman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), known to some associates as Mank. It begins\nwith the hard-drinking gambler being hired by director Orson Welles (Tom Burke).\nThe filmmaker has been given total autonomy for his latest project at RKO\nStudios and Mank, suffering from a broken leg, is sent to remote home to\nquickly complete the movie\u2019s script. It\u2019s clear to the protagonist\u2019s stenographer\/secretary\n(Lily Collins) that the title character of Kane bears a remarkable similarity\nto publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance). As the writer\nekes forward on the project, viewers are taken back a few years to witness the\nbeginning and end of Mank\u2019s personal relationship with Hearst and the tycoon\u2019s\nmistress, actress Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admittedly, this film is set in a different era with unusual\nspeaking rhythms that may take a bit of time to get used to. But by the end of the\nopening act, the sharp-witted jabs and interactions between characters really\ntake hold and engage. Mank sharply delivers astute observations and amusingly\nuses quips from famous Hollywood personalities to make his points. The\ncharacter\u2019s disdain for niceties is a whole lot of fun to listen to, as are the\nexchanges between various characters. Oldman is excellent as the writer, using\ncaustic wit to keep us on the side of an apolitical, flawed and cranky\ncharacter with addiction issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, as the story unfolds serious issues are raised and the feature also benefits from being unflinching in its portrait of the various personalities involved. This includes film studio executives more concerned with personal profit than their own workers. The movie even addresses the gubernatorial race of 1934 and some particularly nasty steps taken by a Republican studio head and Hearst to manipulate the voting public. As more and more of Mank\u2019s experiences are shown, the inspiration for his famous filmic opus quickly becomes very clear. The movie also deals with the interesting attempts made by powerful execs to subtly stop Citizen Kane<\/em> from moving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The black and white photography by <\/strong>Erik Messerschmidt is absolutely top-notch, with gorgeous\nimages of the characters, while plumes of smoke billow from cigarettes and\nlight streams through windows or blinds. There are also angles that Welles\nhimself would be proud of, including a camera placed at floor level while a\ncoin spins directly in front of the lens. Viewers also get to see the opulent\ninteriors of Heart\u2019s lavish castles and elaborate parties. Everything about the\nmovie, from the lighting to the costumes, look exceptional. The movie wants to\nwhisk us away to a different time period and excels in its efforts to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frankly, I\u2019m not entirely sure how someone who isn\u2019t\nfamiliar with Citizen Kane<\/em> will respond to this biopic. However, as a reviewer\nwho has<\/em> seen the film a few times over the years and possesses a very general\nknowledge of the production, this still manages to be a fascinating biopic. The\nentire cast are great, the zippy dialogue is a blast to listen to, the movie is\nincredible to look at and the issues and beefs of the title character addressed\nin the story are still relevant today. Mank<\/em> provides compelling\nbackground info one of the greatest films ever made and convincingly shows what\ninspired its co-writer to take shots at the day\u2019s most powerful figures. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This film debuts Friday, December 4th on Netflix. Citizen Kane was a landmark film that caused a great deal of controversy upon its release. This was because of the perceived similarity between the movie\u2019s characters and several real-life figures, as well as the use of fresh camera angles and cinematic storytelling techniques. The end results […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,1172,2789,4119,4442,6251,8122,9122,12411,13046,13047,13048,13049,14680,15491],"class_list":["post-21700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-amanda-seyfried","tag-biopic","tag-charles-dance","tag-citizen-kane","tag-drama","tag-gary-oldman","tag-herman-mankiewicz","tag-lily-collins","tag-mank","tag-mank-film-review","tag-mank-movie-review","tag-mank-review","tag-netflix","tag-orson-welles"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}