David Fincher’s Mank (2020) is a somewhat morbid, at times formidably cold and clinical portrayal of an empire constantly reinventing itself to stay relevant. Designed as a visual evocation of Citizen Kane itself, Fincher seems to be appealing to the specter behind Welles’ personification of Hearst, inextricable from the energies and judgement of Herman Mankiewicz (the older brother of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, screenwriter and director of All About Eve, Suddenly Last Summer, Sleuth...). “Mank” does not chronicle his fall from grace. Right off the bat he’s a lost soul. Whether with or without honor in Hollywood, he is no prophet. In an early scene of drunken besottedness, he proclaims to his wife that “The Wizard of Oz” is going to “sink” MGM. Mankiewicz’s isolation (underscored by a poignant music score by Fincher regulars Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor) gives Fincher the opportunity, in the movie’s last third, to concoct discrete narrative modules in which Mankiewicz is visited by various personages who entreat him to abandon his folly. Hearst is still a powerful man, and can ruin him. But Mankiewicz clearly doesn’t believe he can be ruined any further than he already is. Ultimately, Fincher’s revelation is more a suggestion of how the faces may have changed but the human trials and tribulations remain the same between the uneasy bedfellows of politics and celebrity. As Fincher writes Mankiewicz himself saying, “You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.”
Fincher’s latest is one that will surely polarize fans, which is why we’re here to make the grand and bold statement proclaiming it to be: pretty good! Mank is a chronicle of the years, rivalries, and old Hollywood exploits that went into the eponymous screenwriter completing the Citizen Kane script. But more than just being a backstory of “the greatest film ever made,” Mank is a touching tribute to those left out of the spotlight that simultaneously feels like a thriller. There isn’t necessarily a big mystery to be solved, but that doesn’t stop Fincher from exploiting all the twists and turns of history to their full dramatic effect. Characters are at once larger than life and wholly realized with nuance and humanity. Amanda Seyfried as starlet Marion Davies is an especially remarkable standout. She steals every scene she’s in with wisecracking antics and endlessly watchable charm. At the end of the day, Mank isn’t Fincher’s best, but it’s a richly enthralling film and a welcome return for the director after six years without a feature. "Mank" will premiere on Netflix on December 4th.
My go-to line when discussing Fincher with friends, family, and, frankly, anyone who will listen, is that Gone Girl isn’t his best, but it is my favorite. That’s not to say it isn’t one of the greatest films of the last decade. Gone Girl is in itself a treasure hunt for Nick Dunne and for the audience. Like Fincher’s previous thriller, The Game (one of John Kennedy Jr's favorite films), the film is predicated on a special occasion. In The Game, it's Nicholas’ (Michael Douglas) birthday. In Gone Girl, it's Amy and Nick’s anniversary. To hit the hammer over the head of the thematic string of games throughout, the film happens to open with Nick carrying a game into his bar to greet his sister Margo. Amy legitimately wants to give Nick an anniversary gift he will never forget. Nick gets the gift any narcissist would revel in: forgiveness and galvanization from the media just as long as he confesses his love for Amy on national television. What woman wouldn’t want their man to confess their love to 10 million people? In February 2015, British actress Rosamund Pike talked to Variety about her inspiration for her portrayal of the magnetic, aloof Amy Dunne in Gone Girl on the elusive Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. Like Amy Dunne, the tragic Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was an impossibly beautiful blonde whose personal warmth belied a puzzling remoteness. “There are quite a few photographs of Bessette,” Pike told editor Sam Kashner, “but I could find nothing of her persona in her own words.” Bessette was a celebrated minimalist fashion icon, yet somehow always, as Pike describes her, “a cipher.” Pike says she modeled her alter-ego Amazing Amy, at least in part, on Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, the alluring but somehow unknowable wife of John F. Kennedy Jr. “There’s not much out there about her. You never heard her speak in public,” Pike says, curled up on a sofa at Milk Studios in Hollywood. “You just see those pictures of her hiding her face. The mysterious way she moved... I used quite a lot of her body language and mood. She was a dream girl. That’s what Amy was for Nick. She’s the one you can’t get out of your head because she’s perfect.” Source: ew.com
Portia De Rossi characterized as Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy for the docudrama project America's Reluctant Prince (2003) by Eric Laneuville. It failed mainly due to a contrived script and Daryl Hannah's contention with the representation of her character onscreen. Laneuville seemed to take inspiration from Christopher Andersen's book "The Day John Died" (2000) and "Four Blondes" (2000) by Candace Bushnell. Apparently the chapter "Platinum" of "Four Blondes" has certain similarities to Carolyn Bessette's life. In Platinum, a former salesgirl at Ralph Lauren weds a good-looking heir who happens to be a real prince. Cecilia (the new blonde princess) disintegrates behind the doors, with paranoia and drugs becoming her calling card, but high society still wants her sitting at its table. Although Candace Bushnell was not friends with Carolyn Bessette, she knew the tabloids scene and she wrote a column for The New York Observer; Bushnell also had dated Michael Bergin (former lover of Carolyn Bessette). Bushnell implies not only CBK used cocaine, also her husband (the affable son of JFK) secretly dabbled with fractal drugs (LSD). Bushnell alludes to a tormentous yet highly passional marriage that was tainted with self-destructive traits of two bipolar personalities. John Kennedy Jr had known Carolyn Bessette since November 1992 (around the release of David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) in the nightclub Rex at Soho. They officially started dating in late December 1994, and she moved to his Tribeca loft in July 1995. According to Billy Way, John Jr fell hard for Carolyn, but he felt insecure if Carolyn was ready for his political aspirations and lifestyle, and after a tumultuous courtship, they had distanced in 1993.
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