As busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, there are other experts out there. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for guest movie reviews.
TODAY’S CRITIC: Lafronda Stumn
Lafronda Stumn is a student at Madisonville Community College and intends to graduate with an Associate's degree in Associate of the Arts. She plans on earning a Bachelors Degree in Motion Picture Studies and English at Wright State University. Her favorite Directors are Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Spike Lee, and her favorite actors are Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and Halle Berry. Lafronda contacted this page looking for a place to get published and I enjoy giving people that very kind of opportunity. This is her 22nd guest review for Every Movie Has a Lesson. Welcome as always, Lafronda!
HER REVIEW: Mank
David Fincher's new film Mank is his first film since the critically acclaimed 2014's Gone Girl. This Netflix film is about the co-winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar winner for Citizen Kane Herman Mankiewicz, played by Gary Oldman.
In this history, Mankiewicz is a full-blown alcoholic with a broken leg following a car accident and sent by a producer John Houseman (Sam Troughton) and Orson Welles (Tom Burke) to write the screenplay in Mexico. Mank is joined by a secretary Rita Alexander (Lily Collins), who is the buffer between Mank, Welles and Houseman. Rita attempts to get Herman to stay sober to write, though Mank constantly relapses from alcoholism.
During his attempts to write, Mank has a flashback as a successful screenwriter in the 1930’s. Mank is friends with Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried). The actress introduces him to William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance). Mank and his wife Sara go to Louis B. Mayer's party and Heart’s estate. Marion is there as well as they discuss politics and the rise of Nazi Germany. There is also an election for Governor showdown between Uptown Sinclair and Frank Merriam. When Mank and his younger brother Joseph work for MGM in 1934, Mank discovers that Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard) is making propaganda films to smear Sinclair. Hearst is funding the campaign to smear Sinclair The movie is about not only will Mank tolerate the unfairness of the situation but strains his friendship with Marion.
There is a memorable sequence between Mank and Davies outside of the large mansion of Hearst near a luscious water fountain as they discuss politics and the movie industry. Mank and his brother Joseph discuss the consequences of writing the Citizen Kane script about Hearst being the catalyst for the story. Another flashback, this time in 1933, it is movie mogul Louis B. Mayer's birthday and a party is thrown by Hearst. Mank and others at the party discuss politics, socialism vs. communism, Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Back int the present, Houseman later complains that the script isn't finished and has just a few days to complete. There's another pivotal flashback scene on the night of the Governor’s election in 1934. The results force Mank to contemplate his career for exposing Hearst and Mayer's motives as treacherous.
First, the cinematography by Eric Messerschmidt is exquisite and worthy of the Oscar. The camerawork is glorious with vivid black and white hues shining on the screen as a sheer force and dominance. The production design by Donald Graham Burt and the costumes by Trish Summerville are luminous to exemplify the ambiance of the time and place of the '30s and '40s.
Gary Oldman is very good as Mank. Oldman has the vocal mannerisms of Mank down pat. Seyfried is excellent as Marion Davies, who is a lot smarter than people realize. The direction of Fincher and editor Kirk Baxter do a fine job honing a multi-layered picture. Fincher and Baxter do not confuse the audience with the flashbacks back and forth between two decades.
If there is a flaw in the film is that you feel a little detached by the filmmaking. The film is eye candy. Mank has a coldness of tone. The film could have more empathy for the characters, particularly Davies. Overall, the film is a loving tribute to the cinema of that time. Propaganda during that time is still very relevant to what we as Americans go through in its present, especially regarding our new ex-president.
CONCLUSION
Thank you again, Lafronda! You are welcome anytime. Friends, if you see a movie that I don't see and want to be featured on my website, hit up my website's Facebook page and you can be my next GUEST CRITIC!
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