Mank , a film directed by David Fincher, shines the spotlight on the writing phase of “ Citizen Kane” starting from the thesis of film critic Pauline Kael according to which the true authorship of this masterpiece of cinema belongs to the playwright, critic and screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz said Mank . Although this thesis has been refuted, the film present itself as a biopic of the brilliant screenwriter Mank played by Gary Oldman ( nominated for the best actor for the 2021 Oscars)

We are in 1940, at just 24 years old Orson Welles ( Tom Burke) is called to Hollywood by the RKO with a contract that grants him full freedom to make a film with collaborators chosen by him without any external supervision o interference. Welles asks Mank to write the screenplay for the film in 60 days and since the writer is confined to bed after a car accident, he provides him with a nurse and a typist ( Tina played by Lily Collins ) who tries to keep him away from all distractions, primarily alcohol, which could hinder the success of the project.

The inspiration for Citizen Kane stems from Mank’s personal story : in 1930 he works in a team of Paramount writers , first known by the actress Marion Davies ( Amanda Seyfried , nominated for supporting actress at the 2021 Oscars) then her powerful lover and patron Hearst ( Charles Dance) who inspired the character of Charles Foster Kane. Hearst exerts a great influence on the media in general and on Louis Mayer , the cynical head of MGM with whom Mank collaborated in 1934. In this context , Mank is convinced that for a naive audience a screenwriter is more dangerous than a party bureaucrat : MGM tries to manipulate public opinion with fake newsreels created by their own directors and writers to influence the elections by demolishing the Democrat Sinclair in favor of the Republican Merrian.

This experience torments the writer who , reduced to a court jester , feels he has betrayed his integrity: in an almost cathartic impetus he writes his best screenplay in the established terms , denouncing the great hypocrisy of a system in which if you say high things out loud and long enough people are likely to believe it.

Impeccable black and white, 1930s atmospheres , hypnotic sound , important cast, precious setting at the service of a figure often confined behind the scenes, the screenwriter who here comes out of the shadows dominates the scene, regaining his own unpolitical point of view in stubborn conflict with the powerful of Hollywood, a Don Quixote in a spiral of self-destruction that culminates in the clash with Orson Welles himself to claim his role and his name.