Mank (2020)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Herman J. Mankiewicz	Gary Oldman
Marion Davies	Amanda Seyfried
Rita Alexander	Lily Collins	½
Louis B. Mayer	Arliss Howard	½
Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Tom Pelphrey
William Randolph Hearst	Charles Dance
John Houseman	Sam Troughton	-
Irving Thalberg	Ferdinand Kingsley
Sara Mankiewicz	Tuppence Middleton
Orson Welles	Tom Burke	-
Charles Lederer	Joseph Cross	-

Review

With its crackling black-and-white cinematography and sound production, Mank not only transports you back to 1930s Hollywood on a sightseeing trip, it welcomes you back as if you never left. And the narrative is presented likewise – as if there's complete confidentiality between you and this group of people from the elite of Old Hollywood. The film is David Fincher's first since Gone Girl back in 2014 – the longest interval he's ever had between two movies. And the reason may well be the unusual development history here, because Mank is based on a screenplay Fincher's father Jack wrote before his death in 2003. One of the reasons the film didn't materialize back then was Fincher's insistence on shooting in black-and-white, which of course turns out to be an important part of the aforementioned time travel. Admittedly, the film demands some sort of prior knowledge of or devotion to the era in question, the people populating it, or at least Citizen Kane – the seminal film around which Mank is spun. A film that has defined movie history to such a degree that Fincher wisely avoids the risk of appearing arrogant by simplifying or over-explaining its mythos. Instead, he invites us viewers to make an effort ourselves. If you're up for that, which probably most people choosing to watch Mank is, this is a highly rewarding and informative delve into the details and mentality of the movie industry's fascinating youth. And there are also fun and delightful performances by several talented actors, most notably Amanda Seyfried, Charles Dance, Ferdinand Kingsley, and of course the ever dependable Gary Oldman.