No matter how lofty one’s stature as an artist or how impeccable one’s list of accomplishments, there will always be someone out there sporting a pair of steel-toed loafers for the soul (and sole) purpose of booting a deity from the Pantheon. But not even the National Enquirer could have concocted a slam as spurious and mean-spirited as the one Pauline Kael leveled against Orson Welles’ rightful claim to co-authorship in the writing of Citizen Kane. And David Fincher’s Mank picks up where Kael left off. The title is short for Herman J. Mankiewicz, a prolific screenwriter who, in addition to having a hand in writing the film of films, gifted audiences with untold hours spent pleasurably in the dark (Dinner at Eight, The Wizard of Oz, Christmas Holiday). The script, written by the director’s late father Jack Fincher, uses as its base of operation, amid the myriad of
This movie is not currently in theaters.