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Mank: The Screenplay
Jack Fincher's original screenplay for the 2020 Netflix film.
160 pages, Paperback
Published July 29, 2021
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 2, 2025
Mank by Jack Fincher had ten Oscar nominations, won two Academy Awards and multiple other prizes, more importantly for this place, it is one of my Top 100 Best of All Time, I saw it again the other day and it is stupendous – now the plug in: you have more than five thousand notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other sites, together with magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other lists on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
10 out of 10
Glorious!
This is one of my favorite films, just like The Graduate https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and in the latter, there is this line that I remember, where a guest to this party talks to the hero, portrayed by the fickle, difficult Dustin Hoffman, and he says: ‘let me tell you just one word’, and then after a pause he continues- ‘plastics’
Back then, they seem to promise so much – and indeed, transporting food and things depends so much on this – now this is threat to humanity, however, it was about the ‘one word’, which in the case of Mank is ‘glorious’, if you ask me, for this is perfect, since it has humor, it is dazzling, effervescent, it is about the movies
Herman Mankiewicz is the hero, he gives the name to the motion picture, for they called him Mank, he is portrayed by Gary Oldman, one of the greatest thespians alive, winner of the Oscar for The Darkest Hour https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and nominated for the same for this role
Mank was an outstanding writer, intelligent, hilarious, mordant, one of those I would wish to meet, notwithstanding his dark side- he was an alcoholic, gambling addict, he was married to ‘Poor Sara’ – the name given to the spouse – who had to put up with so much, she makes all of it clear in a speech, towards the end of the feature
She has raised his children, put up with his heavy, reckless drinking, then at one point, when there is this race for the governorship, Upton Sinclair https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... seems to be on the path to victory, but then William Hearst intervenes through Louis B. Meyer
Mank takes a huge bet, which can ruin his family, then he risks everything when he works on this new project, which will anger Hearst, something like a Musk of that time, and this would be for such a long time the Best Film of the Ages, now it may have dropped from number one, but it is still one of the greatest:
Citizen Kane https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... would win only one Academy Award, and that was for screenplay, shared between Mankiewicz and Orson Welles, they would have a dispute over this (spoiler alert here, maybe you have reached this far) because of the contract
Mank wants credit, even if his arrangement stipulates, he does not get it, so he eventually convinces Welles, but makes the joke that he ‘enjoys the trophy, just as he wrote the script, without Orson’, ergo stating that he is the single author, the dialogues and speeches, everything in this motion picture is phenomenal, overwhelming
Actually, even watching it for the second time, I found it so exhilarating that I kept going back to see again various scenes, the one where Mank compares Hearst with Quixote, Louis B. Meyer explaining films, his paramount role and more
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
10 out of 10
Glorious!
This is one of my favorite films, just like The Graduate https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and in the latter, there is this line that I remember, where a guest to this party talks to the hero, portrayed by the fickle, difficult Dustin Hoffman, and he says: ‘let me tell you just one word’, and then after a pause he continues- ‘plastics’
Back then, they seem to promise so much – and indeed, transporting food and things depends so much on this – now this is threat to humanity, however, it was about the ‘one word’, which in the case of Mank is ‘glorious’, if you ask me, for this is perfect, since it has humor, it is dazzling, effervescent, it is about the movies
Herman Mankiewicz is the hero, he gives the name to the motion picture, for they called him Mank, he is portrayed by Gary Oldman, one of the greatest thespians alive, winner of the Oscar for The Darkest Hour https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and nominated for the same for this role
Mank was an outstanding writer, intelligent, hilarious, mordant, one of those I would wish to meet, notwithstanding his dark side- he was an alcoholic, gambling addict, he was married to ‘Poor Sara’ – the name given to the spouse – who had to put up with so much, she makes all of it clear in a speech, towards the end of the feature
She has raised his children, put up with his heavy, reckless drinking, then at one point, when there is this race for the governorship, Upton Sinclair https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... seems to be on the path to victory, but then William Hearst intervenes through Louis B. Meyer
Mank takes a huge bet, which can ruin his family, then he risks everything when he works on this new project, which will anger Hearst, something like a Musk of that time, and this would be for such a long time the Best Film of the Ages, now it may have dropped from number one, but it is still one of the greatest:
Citizen Kane https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... would win only one Academy Award, and that was for screenplay, shared between Mankiewicz and Orson Welles, they would have a dispute over this (spoiler alert here, maybe you have reached this far) because of the contract
Mank wants credit, even if his arrangement stipulates, he does not get it, so he eventually convinces Welles, but makes the joke that he ‘enjoys the trophy, just as he wrote the script, without Orson’, ergo stating that he is the single author, the dialogues and speeches, everything in this motion picture is phenomenal, overwhelming
Actually, even watching it for the second time, I found it so exhilarating that I kept going back to see again various scenes, the one where Mank compares Hearst with Quixote, Louis B. Meyer explaining films, his paramount role and more
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
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February 27, 2022M a n k
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews