With the Oscars now just a few weeks away, I'm continuing with my series of watching as many Oscars contenders as I can before the 2021 ceremony. Today I will be reviewing the most nominated film of the year, David Fincher's Mank, starring Best Actor nominee Gary Oldman, Best Supporting Actress nominee Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Joseph Cross, Tom Burke and Charles Dance. Centred on Hollywood screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Oldman), the film follows his writing of the screenplay for the iconic Citizen Kane and chronicles his relationships with media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the inspiration for Citizen Kane's protagonist.
Visually, the film looks and sounds like a 1940s, classical Hollywood era film. You can hear a slight echo in the sound, presumably meant to emulate the echo of the old Hollywood sound stages, and every now and again the image will crack like you expect to see when watching a film from this era. Shot entirely in black and white, you often forget that you are watching a film made in the 21st century. As someone who enjoys old Hollywood films, I love how the film looked and felt. The visuals were undoubtedly the best part of the film for me.
My main critique of the film is its run time. It is 2 hours 7 minutes long, and believe me when I say you feel every second of it! I'm not really one to get put off by a film's run time and will happily watch films that are quite long, but Mank is very dialogue heavy, meaning you must focus intently on everything which is unfolding in order to get a full grasp of the story, and because of this the film often feels like it drags. The political subplot of the film, meant to contrast the struggles of native Californians during The Great Depression with the glamour and wealth of the Hollywood elite, feels underdeveloped and subsequently unnecessary, as it adds very little to the plot or the characters.
Performance wise, Gary Oldman is impressive as the alcoholic screenwriter, but when comparing his performance against some of the other Best Actor contenders this year, his is certainly the weakest of the bunch. I can't help but feel that it would have been more interesting and exciting for the Academy to recognise one of the other standout performances of the year, like Tom Holland in Cherry or Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami instead.
This certainly hasn't been my favourite film of this year's Awards race, but if you are a Gary Oldman fan and enjoy the old Hollywood aesthetic you might enjoy it! Because of the heavy focus which is placed on Hollywood and the industry, I wouldn't be surprised if Mank were to sweep the board at the Oscars. The Academy have a history of favouring biopics and films which look at Hollywood, the film industry and it's history, and set against the backdrop of the making of one of the most recognised and celebrated films of all time, it could be a dark horse for Best Picture.
Mank is available to stream on Netflix.
Comments