Mank

This afternoon I finally got to the theater to see Mank, and I am glad that I saw it after re-watching Citizen Kane not too long ago, as the former has enriched my appreciation of what is considered by many to be the greatest film of all time.  The story of Mank is quite straight forward; the screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz ("Mank") was hired by Orson Welles to write a screenplay, which eventually would be made into the film Citizen Kane.  Mank wrote the screenplay based on the eccentric newspaper tycoon, William Randolph Hearst, someone who Mank had developed a relationship with.  The screenplay of Citizen Kane was seen a betrayal of Hearst, as Mank cast him in a very unflattering light.  The main performance in Mank are also quite straightforward, with Gary Oldman in the title role, playing the screenwriter as a mostly-functional alcoholic, who just so happens to be bed-ridden for the entire time that he's writing the screenplay.  The music in Mank is also quite straightforward, composed by Atticus Ross and that other guy from Nine Inch Nails, creating a sound that may be the best dramatic 1940's film score ever recorded.  And if that wasn't enough, Mank in its entirety is also quite straightforward, directed by David Fincher, everything that made it to the screen is flawless.  Take for example the scene where Mank, and the actress Marion Davies (played by Amanda Seyfried) walk through William Hurst's estate; it is clear that we are to be reminded of Xanadu from Citizen Kane, but Fincher references the background images only as needed to support the story, and never at the expense of the conversation that is taking place.  When I mentioned before that Citizen Kane is considered by many to be the greatest film of all time, you may have noticed that I qualified the statement; I personally don't think it's the greatest film, but I also cannot find any flaws.  Of course being flawless, and being the greatest don't necessarily have anything to do with each other.  Mank is a flawless film that has enriched my appreciation of another flawless film, I guess that's pretty high praise.