I didn’t expect to see so much time dedicated to Upton Sinclair’s CA governor campaign as well as
spoiler
it factoring into Mank’s motivation to write the Citizen Kane screenplay (though this part is apparently a historical fabrication). Also surprised Sinclair is played by Bill Nye the Science Guy.
I remember Matt’s Inebriated Past episode he did (I believe after Bernie dropped out) about Sinclair the the governor race, a lot of what he mentions gets depicted in the film too which is cool. Worth checking out at least for that bit.
i definitely felt pretty smug having had a least a primer on the sinclair election, via the podcast, while my girlfriend was confused, then sleeping. (i enjoyed the film)
pretty uncharitable reading imo. probably a lot to unpack via fincher (in light of his other works and themes; and at a higher level, his reputation as dictatorial director/auteur (cf welles), and his relationship to commercial filmmaking), staging his father's penned screen play, about the authorship of kane(and the nature of film authorship generally; cf kael/sarris/ raising kane), along with the inter-textual nature of the film, and kane, and don quixote, and of course of hearst himself.
but even ignoring all of that as "a literalized version of CK with some cutesy neo-golden age distractions like cigarette burns on the screen", certainly there's a pretty relatable story of a man, hemmed in by his corporate masters, who, in a final act of self-sabotage or a first act of heroism, kicks dirt at all his patrons by penning his opus.
or at least a pretty gratifying depiction of an oft overlooked moment of american history.