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Fincher went from a best seller adaptation (which was a box office success if I recall well) to this. And then recently he was bragging about his Netflix deal and that whether he should do more black and white films to justify the deal, or something along the lines. Netflix is also bending over backwards to make sure they get BP and this is the perfect one for that.
Fincher intended to make this film after The game which was released in 1997, and couldn’t because studios refused to make it in black and white, he didn’t make it this way with Netflix so they could win Oscars. And he worked with Netflix on House of cards (which was the series that first made Netflix a thing) and Mindhunter and Love, death & robots after Gone girl, he’s one of the first big names who worked with Netflix and they asked him after Mindhunter if he wants to make something. He also didn’t brag about his Netflix deal and never said he should make more black and white films.
Netflix clearly wants to win BP, and they also clearly have high hopes for Mank. But to reduce it to Oscar-bait is very dismissive and points to taking the film as surface-level love letter to Hollywood mimicking 30s films, which it definitely isn’t.
ReplyCopy URLYou’re forcing that narrative. The only thing you said was it’s very obvious and other directors do it. Mank says to his secretary that he’s writing for movies because he isn’t that good of a writer, how about that? The screenplay of Citizen Kane was revolutionary in that time and its structure was way different than most of the films of that era so that has nothing to do with Fincher. You can see it that way, it’s just not obvious in any way and is probably not true.
You are denying to obvious, Fincher has an enormous ego and he does not even try to hide it.
It’s an artistic decision and people have to really stop assuming that filmmakers think about Oscars that much before most of them don’t.
It is a pretensions and snobbish decision. The film ends with the Oscar ceremony suggesting that that Oscar was the best thing that ever happened to Mank and he was not able to be humble even in that moment and used it to humiliates Welles. You really do not see the correlation between this film and the Oscars- the huge ego of Fincher?
ReplyCopy URLI had 2 days off but it took me 3 days to finish it. What in god’s name the critics gave it a positive review? Fine, there are arts and sciences behind the film but forgive me it was a snorefest. Couldn’t believe it’s a Fincher film. Those who stan Seyfried’s performance here better to stop otherwise you are only fooling yourselves. She did nothing to warrant an Oscar nomination. She was good but no. The only positive I can say is my discovery of Sir Ben Kingsley’s son, Ferdinand Kingsley who portrayed Irving Thalberg. God…what a hottie!
ReplyCopy URL“Depending on Mank’s reception, I’ll either go see them [Netflix] sheepishly asking them what I can do to redeem myself or take the attitude of the arrogant asshole who’ll require making other films in black and white,” Fincher joked. “No, I’m here to deliver them ‘content’ — whatever it means — likely to bring them spectators, in my small sphere of influence.”
The director said he wants to use the Netflix deal to try different things, “like Picasso painted.”
“I like the idea of having a body of work,” Fincher said, “And yes, I admit that it feels strange, after forty years in this profession, to only have ten films under my belt. Well, eleven, but ten that I can say are mine.”
Hardly humble quotes. And he must have wanted the Oscar so badly 2 decades ago if he had already wanted to make the movie at the time. Obviously he didn’t want to be remembered for Alien3, Se7en or Fight Club because they might be cult favs but no industry support. And right before his feature film debut he was making 5 minute long music videos so hardly a “forty years of profession” in filmmaking.
ReplyCopy URL“Depending on Mank’s reception, I’ll either go see them [Netflix] sheepishly asking them what I can do to redeem myself or take the attitude of the arrogant asshole who’ll require making other films in black and white,” Fincher joked. “No, I’m here to deliver them ‘content’ — whatever it means — likely to bring them spectators, in my small sphere of influence.” The director said he wants to use the Netflix deal to try different things, “like Picasso painted.” “I like the idea of having a body of work,” Fincher said, “And yes, I admit that it feels strange, after forty years in this profession, to only have ten films under my belt. Well, eleven, but ten that I can say are mine.” https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/12/21562109/netflix-david-fincher-multiyear-deal-mindhunter-house-of-cards-mank Hardly humble quotes. And he must have wanted the Oscar so badly 2 decades ago if he had already wanted to make the movie at the time. Obviously he didn’t want to be remembered for Alien3, Se7en or Fight Club because they might be cult favs but no industry support. And right before his feature film debut he was making 5 minute long music videos so hardly a “forty years of profession” in filmmaking.
Alien 3 is not a cult favorite, most people hate that movie, especially fans of the first two.
ReplyCopy URLThere is a small, dedicated group of people, myself included, who contend that Alien 3 is far superior to Aliens. If that’s not a film cult, I don’t know what is.
Because it’s a small group. Cult favorite is something like Fight Club, a film that wasn’t big in its time but has become a classic in its own right. Alien 3 is still regularly shat on by most everyone and seen as one of the worst sequels of all time.
And deservedly so. It’s not a tenth of the film that the first two were, and even Fincher will agree with that.
ReplyCopy URLGod, what a fucking letdown. Tempted to say worst of Fincher’s career, which is so sad after coming after his best effort. No sense of humor, but instead settles for the protagonist’s sensibilities. A God-awful screenplay all around, too enamored with Hollywood to say anything of substance; we know these people are assholes, so why not go in on them? Cinematography is absolute trash; expect more from both Fincher and Messerschmidt. Netflix and digital just absolutely do not mix; their compression rates are shit-tier and contrast is laughable. Best piece is Pelphrey’s performance.
what did you think of amanda?
ReplyCopy URLYou are denying to obvious, Fincher has an enormous ego and he does not even try to hide it.
You’re saying this based on what? Let me guess: absolutely nothing. This is just an assumption from you, which I disagree with.
It is a pretensions and snobbish decision. The film ends with the Oscar ceremony suggesting that that Oscar was the best thing that ever happened to Mank and he was not able to be humble even in that moment and used it to humiliates Welles. You really do not see the correlation between this film and the Oscars- the huge ego of Fincher?
To say that it’s pretentious is very subjective. I don’t find it that way, but there isn’t much to argue there. And (spoilers alert) it ended with both Welles and Mank “dunking” on each other, so it’s interesting how you only focused on Mank. And I don’t see what does what the characters think about each other or about the awards to do with the director?
I had 2 days off but it took me 3 days to finish it. What in god’s name the critics gave it a positive review? Fine, there are arts and sciences behind the film but forgive me it was a snorefest. Couldn’t believe it’s a Fincher film. Those who stan Seyfried’s performance here better to stop otherwise you are only fooling yourselves. She did nothing to warrant an Oscar nomination. She was good but no. The only positive I can say is my discovery of Sir Ben Kingsley’s son, Ferdinand Kingsley who portrayed Irving Thalberg. God…what a hottie!
It wasn’t suggesting that the Oscar was the best thing to ever happen to Mank, and Amanda Seyfried gave a great performance worthy of an Oscar imo. You don’t have to agree with that as long as you respect what others think. And yes Ferdinand Kingsley was quite good as Thalberg.
“Depending on Mank’s reception, I’ll either go see them [Netflix] sheepishly asking them what I can do to redeem myself or take the attitude of the arrogant asshole who’ll require making other films in black and white,” Fincher joked. “No, I’m here to deliver them ‘content’ — whatever it means — likely to bring them spectators, in my small sphere of influence.” The director said he wants to use the Netflix deal to try different things, “like Picasso painted.” “I like the idea of having a body of work,” Fincher said, “And yes, I admit that it feels strange, after forty years in this profession, to only have ten films under my belt. Well, eleven, but ten that I can say are mine.” https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/12/21562109/netflix-david-fincher-multiyear-deal-mindhunter-house-of-cards-mank Hardly humble quotes. And he must have wanted the Oscar so badly 2 decades ago if he had already wanted to make the movie at the time. Obviously he didn’t want to be remembered for Alien3, Se7en or Fight Club because they might be cult favs but no industry support. And right before his feature film debut he was making 5 minute long music videos so hardly a “forty years of profession” in filmmaking.
“jokingly”. I think that settles it. And he didn’t want to be remembered for Fight club or Se7en. That’s why he has 3 audio commentaries on the former, and said in multiple interview that it was the only book he read and went “I have to make that”. And he said in an interview for Mank that Oscars are meaningless, so I hope that makes this “he wants an Oscar so bad” thing to bed. It was clearly a purely artistic decision for him. And if he wanted an Oscar so badly after Fight club, why did he make Panic room, a pop corn movie. Even after coming very close with The social network he made The girl with the dragon tattoo and Gone girl, films that are the very opposite of Oscar-bait.
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