Old Man Angelo’s review published on Letterboxd:
I kind of loved this, I kind of hated it. It's infurating, but full of so much greatness. It's a 132 minute childish tantrum, yet it's so meticulously and brilliantly crafted. It's as much a David Fincher autobiography of his last 6 years as it is a Herman Mankiewicz biopic, except Fincher is completely oblivious he's Orson Wells and it's rage inducing that he doesn't get it.
The gist of the movie is the tumultuous creation of the script for Citizen Kane, widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made and kind of a shorthand comparison to a masterpiece of cinema, kind of like how Rambo became synonymous with tough guy.
But therein lies the rub, this movie is David Fincher's big fuck you to the Hollywood system. "These idiots nearly didn't make Citizen Kane!" he screams, "And this is what they've been doing to me for the last 6 years". Fair enough. Except he got to make this tantrum at a production outfit that allowed him to meticulously recreate 1930's cinema, right down to the soft focus and rear projection, and he's doing so well after the likes of Beasts of No Nation, Roma and The Irishman have long come and gone.
Maybe this is something I'll need to distance myself and re-evaluate down the line once I know for sure Fincher has gotten it out of his system. Gary Oldman is brilliant here as always, giving a scattershot performance in an equally scattershot film.
