Mank Review

Certificate: 12A

Running time: 131 minutes

Starring: Gary Oldman, Lily Collins, Tom Burke, Amanda Seyfried, Tuppence Middleton

Directed by: David Fincher

The story: Mank follows alcoholic screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz as he struggles to finish the script for Citizen Kane.

The verdict: David Fincher is often thought of as a divisive director, though probably more for his filmmaking methods rather than his actual films. But I myself am a really big fan of Fincher's work and so I was eagerly anticipating the release of this film.

Mank is definitely a film that I think of on two hands. On the one hand it is brilliant. But, on the other hand - is it always brilliantly engaging? And unfortunately the answer to that is no.

Mank is a very stylistic film. Not only does the choice of having the film in black and white help immediately transport the audience back to the appropriate time period, but everything about the cinematography and actors' performances screams forties Hollywood. Watching Mank does feel like watching a film from sixty years ago and there is definitely something special about that.

The ensemble cast is very good and of course it is no surprise to see Gary Oldman put in another great character performance. I particularly liked Amanda Seyfried in this and thought that she encapsulated a forties starlet perfectly.

Although there is much to like about Mank, I did have issues with it. I think that it is very important to be engaged when watching a film and with Mank I frequently found myself losing engagement. This may be because the film is far too long and I did feel that if it lost thirty minutes then it would be much better paced. The first and third acts were best with the middle act dragging slightly.

Overall, I found Mank impressive in regards to its technical elements and performances however the long running time and superfluous scenes let it down for me. I did predominantly enjoy Mank, but when comparing it to Fincher's other work, it is one of his least favourite films for me. Still, I would recommend it especially as it is so unique from other releases this year.

The rating: ★★★ and a half