I'm a fan of documentaries. Often times, when watching a well-made documentary, I find myself wishing it would be made into a big-budget movie.
'Mank' (2020) is a fine film with a great cast, but is lacking in telling a comprehensive story of the creation of 'Citizen Kane' (1941). Ideally, this would have been a docu-series with an underlying historical reenactment film.
There is a lot going on in this film. In order to truly understand this story, you need to have a working knowledge of the political environment at the time, as well as the 'studio system' of producing films back then. Also, this film has A LOT of characters - most of which are, presumably, real people. A docu-series could have added depth to these characters and made their individual stories more impactful.
A docu-series could have contained 100% of this film, plus more scenes that would be needed to depict the added depth that the interview segments could provide to the setting and the characters.
RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria:
Acting: 1/1;
Casting: 1/1;
Directing: 1/1;
Story: 1/1;
Writing/Screenplay: 1/1;
Total Base Score = 5
Modifiers (+ or -):
Standout Performances: +1 ( Amanda Seyfried );
Total RealReview Rating: 6.
'Mank' (2020) is a fine film with a great cast, but is lacking in telling a comprehensive story of the creation of 'Citizen Kane' (1941). Ideally, this would have been a docu-series with an underlying historical reenactment film.
There is a lot going on in this film. In order to truly understand this story, you need to have a working knowledge of the political environment at the time, as well as the 'studio system' of producing films back then. Also, this film has A LOT of characters - most of which are, presumably, real people. A docu-series could have added depth to these characters and made their individual stories more impactful.
A docu-series could have contained 100% of this film, plus more scenes that would be needed to depict the added depth that the interview segments could provide to the setting and the characters.
RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria:
Acting: 1/1;
Casting: 1/1;
Directing: 1/1;
Story: 1/1;
Writing/Screenplay: 1/1;
Total Base Score = 5
Modifiers (+ or -):
Standout Performances: +1 ( Amanda Seyfried );
Total RealReview Rating: 6.