As a pretty big fan of David Fincher, I'm disappointed to say that I'm mixed on Mank overall. Fincher's work deserves to win the Oscar for Best Director, but the film is less than the sum of its parts for my taste.
The craft and filmmaking is sensational. Fincher strikes dynamite with an approach that blends imitating and homaging this specific early moment in time of Hollywood. It goes without saying, the photography, production, score and sound are undeniably sublime. The cast ensemble gels with the created style as perfectly as possible.
All the while, I respect Mank more than I love or even enjoy it.
The screenplay boasts cleverness and surprisingly funny humor, which, when meant with Fincher's execution create a nice bouncing momentum. The screenplay has more creativity and better, snappier dialogue than Trial of Chicago 7, but I care so much less about the plot in Mank. There could have been a better plot or a different focus to tell this story.
Oldman's work holds up to the hype, Seyfried less so.
More Citizen Kane and Charles Dance, less Communism v. Socialism.
The craft and filmmaking is sensational. Fincher strikes dynamite with an approach that blends imitating and homaging this specific early moment in time of Hollywood. It goes without saying, the photography, production, score and sound are undeniably sublime. The cast ensemble gels with the created style as perfectly as possible.
All the while, I respect Mank more than I love or even enjoy it.
The screenplay boasts cleverness and surprisingly funny humor, which, when meant with Fincher's execution create a nice bouncing momentum. The screenplay has more creativity and better, snappier dialogue than Trial of Chicago 7, but I care so much less about the plot in Mank. There could have been a better plot or a different focus to tell this story.
Oldman's work holds up to the hype, Seyfried less so.
More Citizen Kane and Charles Dance, less Communism v. Socialism.