A reasonably engrossing look at old Hollywood through the eyes of the screenwriter of Citizen Kane, this leads into a lot of the early 30's political struggles in California as the left-leaning writers face off against the right-wing billionaires who fund their work - particularly looking at Upton Sinclair's gubernatorial campaign. I must admit the Kane element feels a little light on as a wrap-around Mank's frequent flashbacks, and the film does deliberately slight Welles rather a lot in ways that aren't quite fair (like most collaborative mediums, Wells and Mank were never as good apart as they were together, and auterism about screenwriters is ultimately as much a dead end as auterism about directors is). I feel lucky to be able to see this on a big screen - the shadow-packed photography would die on home-based media and it's a beautiful looking film.
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