Reviews

While I appreciate what the movie taught me about Mank's involvement with Kane, the movie diminishes Orson Welles' contributions a bit.

Much like the subject of the film, Mank is a technically sound film with lots of things on his favor, but an ultimately spotty script and a distant direction that just doesn't let the viewer get in its drift; particularly if you're not familiar with the context and backstory.

The movie uses as a basis several actual facts: Mankiewicz did get to know Marion Davies, then William Randolph Hearst through the writer Charles Lederer who was Davies nephew; Mank may have been a house guest at Hearsts San Simeon (although Hearsts rule of no one having more than one cocktail like...

The film reveals two primary sources for all the problems with getting the film made...Mankiewicz' antagonistic relationship with Hearst, which had a lot to do with Mank's relationship with Hearst's mistress, actress Marian Davies, and his relationship with Louis B Mayer, which became unglued when H...