A long time ago, while perusing an online message board dedicated
to discussing cinema, I came across a casual discussion of what differentiates
a “movie” from a “film,” and that conversation has stuck with me. One poster
posited that a movie is any type of moving picture whereas a
film is a movie that has deeper artistic merit and cultural significance. All
films are movies, but not all movies are films, in other words. This
differentiation might come off as silly (not to mention snobbish), as the two
words are synonyms in almost every way that matters. But to
call certain popcorn flicks “films” doesn’t feel right to me, even if I happen
to adore them as movies. I review a lot of movies, but it is rare that I get to
review a film. The beautifully shot, scored, and acted Mank is, undoubtedly, a film; although
it is also one that struggled to keep my attention.
The
story of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz
and his writing of the iconic Citizen Kane, Mank feels like a newly unearthed
artifact from the past. Shot entirely in black and white (complete with
occasional simulated flaws in the physical film) with monoaural sound (meaning
that everything was recorded on one track, as was the way up until the
mid-twentieth century) and scored by a large, classical band (playing music
written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, of all people), Mank will make you feel like you have
been transported to the golden age of Hollywood. Gary Oldman, a phenomenal
actor known for completely enveloping himself in his roles, is in rare form as
the brilliant Mankiewicz himself, and his
supporting cast, particularly Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies, is incredible
as well. The script fully captures the wit that Mank was
known for with snappy dialogue, and the clever non-sequential storytelling
(something Citizen Kane is also noted for) is easy to follow
throughout thanks to creative transitions that simulate a script being written
in real-time. There’s also the fact that the movie just looks great;
one piece of feedback I heard before watching was that you could take any
screenshot of the film and frame it on your wall, and this turned out to not be
an exaggeration. The cinematography in Mank,
like everything else, is stunning.
The
only problem is that I occasionally found it difficult to care about the
subject matter being portrayed. Mank is
a movie about making movies and is full of studio politicking and,
occasionally, actual politicking. More often than not, I found
the subtilties and finer points of the discussions presented going over my
head, causing me to lose interest. It is a fantastically made film, but it has
a hard time being an entertaining one. I’m not asking for a random shoot-out
with unexplained and anachronistic cowboys to be thrown in or anything like
that... There is nothing this movie could have done to make the subject more
interesting to me, because the baseline premise did not capture my enthusiasm.
But if you have a love for film, the steps that go into making them, and the
flawed characters behind them, do not let this beauty pass you by.
Mank is now available on
Netflix.
This
review was first published in The Keizertimes on January 8th, 2021. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/
Hindsight: Apparently Trent Reznor has been doing movie soundtracks for some time now, so I guess my surprise might seem unwarranted to others. I like this review. I acknowledge that the movie was well made but don't imply that I loved it just to score culture points. I had a problem with that when writing my first review for The Irishman... I wanted to appear smart by appreciating artsy cinema, but I don't think I fully conveyed the fact that it bored me as well as entertained me.
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