David Fincher

I wish I had more time to sit down and review movies given I’ve spent a large part of my life watching movies. I’m only really motivated to do it for special movies amongst all the meaningless junk and B grade filler that is available on streaming and VOD platforms these days.

For me, one newly released movie that stands out is Mank, which is sort of an origin story about the movie Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles.

This movie is in addition to Netflix’s recently financing Welles’ last uncompleted work, The Other Side of the Wind (2018), which was a hot mess for decades before Netflix financed its post-production.

It’s beyond ironic that Orson Welles, who was was unable to find mainstream studio financing for most of his career post Citizen Kane, is now having his works – and movies about his influence – financed posthumously by the biggest mainstream studio disruptor in movie business history.

As an origin story for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Mank is a worthy addition to the Welles’ books and movies that have proceeded it. Notably, RKO 281 (1999) with Liev Schrieber as Orson Welles and John Malkovich as Herman Mankiewicz, which I really enjoyed.

While RKO 281 tells the story from Welles’ point-of-view, Mank flips it and we see it through the eyes of Citizen Kane co-screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (“Mank”) as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane under the direction of boy wunderkind Orson Welles, who only appears in a few brief scenes.

There’s a pretty good historical argument that Welles’ insisted he take “co-writing” credit on the script even though Mankiewicz wrote the first draft of the screenplay, albeit under Welles’ direction.

The “question” posed by Mank is who deserves “credit” for Citizen Kane, which is an interesting question, albeit elusive. One doesn’t need to know to know an answer to enjoy it for what it is – that question aside, Fincher’s black-and-white recreation of that golden Hollywood era and attention to detail and production design is glorious eye candy – the visuals and frame compositions are spectacular. Fincher even adds in “cue marks” (reel markers) to give the movie a real black-and-white film feel.

Everything in this movie is first rate – the casting from Gary Oldman to Amanda Seyfried, score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and DP work Erik Messerschmidt, who adapted many lighting cues from Greg Toland’s work on Citizen Kane.

My only complaint is how much it sidelined Orson Welles from Citizen Kane’s involvement – he’s really put aside here as almost a side character. It kind of works because the movie doesn’t try to claim Herman Mankiewicz made Citizen Kane the movie, rather he wrote the script. I didn’t see it as an attack on Welles’ authorship of Citizen Kane the movie, rather this is to give credence to Mankiewicz’s authorship of the screenplay.

My favorite lines from the screenplay, notably written by David Fincher’s father, Jack Fincher:

“This is the business where the buyer gets nothing for his money but his memory. What he bought still belongs to the man who sold it. That’s the real magic of the movies and don’t let anybody tell you different.”

“It’s a modern-day version of Quixote … a deluded old noble man that tilts at windmills. How about we make our Quixote a newspaperman? Who else could make a living tilting at windmills?“

I appreciate giving Mankiewicz is given his due here but Citizen Kane isn’t popular just for the screenplay. Welles’ genius in the construction of it into a movie is what has made it legendary. It took that great script from Mank – and the vision of Welles – to realize it into what it is – and only Welles could get such a movie made in the first place, at great personal cost thereafter.

One historical revisionism error I found with both RK0 281 and Mank is the casting of far older men to play Orson Welles, who was only a mere twenty-six (26) years old when he made Citizen Kane. In RK0 281, actor Liev Schriber was thirty-three (33) and here in Mank, actor Tom Burke is thirty-nine (39), both of which are way too old to portray the boy wunderkind. That aspect bothered me as it gives a wrong impression Welles was a fully realized adult, when he was really so much younger and naive.

I’m looking forward to seeing David Fincher’s MANK, although RKO 281 (1999) with Liev Schrieber as Welles and John Malkovich as “Mank” will be hard to beat in my mind.

Apparently, the actor cast to play Welles in MANK (Tom Burke) is nearly 40 years old. Liev Schrieber was 32 years old when he played Welles in RKO 281. But Welles was only 26 years old when he made Citizen Kane (1941) – the casting of older actors is part of the incorrect revionism, which is unfortunate. Like, make no mistake about, Welles was a young man when he hit that home run. I think that fact really bothers some people —

Citizen Kane by Welles remains an absolute fascination amongst cineastes for so many reasons. Welles somehow skipped the creative life cycle of most artists, especially filmmakers, and he went supernova right out of the gate, which is why he remains an object of historical review. He also did it at the dawn of the studio system in the 1940s. He was so ahead of his time in acting, radio, theater and cinema.

The NY Times published a good article on David Fincher and MANK today, which is rare as he rarely does interviews. I also think it’s interesting that MANK will premiere on Netflix – not in regular movie theaters. It’s esoteric black-and-white throwback would likely not ever get financed by a regular major movie studio. For all the negatives about streaming, this is one of the positives – Netflix has really stepped up, especially, oddly, with Orson Welles works. A few years ago, Netflix financed the completion of The Other Side of the Wind, which was one of Welles’ unfinished works.

Interestingly, David Fincher, like Welles, also went supernova at young age. As a follower of his career since 1988, Fincher started off in lowly production jobs working at Lucasfilm/ILM, then somehow quickly jumped into making commercials at age 22, then jumped into music videos, despite never having a reel of work or having gone to film school – it’s all very weird. His “Express Yourself” video for Madonna is the one that blew up his career – its creativity was remarkable.

Then he got the opportunities to direct dozens of million dollar major music videos for artists like Billy Idol and Aerosmith – he must have been in the right place at the right time, all I can figure out. In the 1980s, every wannabe filmmaker like me wanted to be like Stephen Spielberg. Now, they all want to be David Fincher.

I own the 1st book proof of Orson Welles’ book “Everybody’s Shakespeare” aka “Twelfth Night” (1934) which features pencil marks in it by 17 year old Orson Welles. I bought it a movie memorabilia auction years ago and I suspect it came from the collection of Peter Bogdanovich or Oja Kodar, Welles’ last wife.

Mank (2020, David Fincher) on Netflix

David Fincher’s MANK