Crum on Showbiz

By Steve Crum

Herman J. Mankiewicz aka “Mank” (1897-1953), the titular focus of the fascinating film Mank, was a major writing force in Hollywood—even though not always credited as such. It was almost that way with his Oscar winning screenplay for 1941’s Citizen Kane. The classic movie’s backstory is covered with penetrating detail in Mank.

The only drawback is the film covers Hollywood history unfamiliar to most moviegoers. It’s pretty inside. Others—like yours truly—will savor every minute. 

The 131-minute film, directed by Oscar nominated David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network), pays considerable homage its plot focus, Citizen Kane. That includes frequent flashback sequences, some attention to the Orson Welles use of camera angles and closeups, and shooting in black and white. As with Citizen Kane and other era films, night scenes were shot during the day (called “day for night”) and darkly filtered to imply night. Modern digital cameras have made it possible to film in near darkness. 

Fincher and his cinematographer, Erik Messerschmidt, were painstaking in the their successful effort to simulate/duplicate the visuals of Citizen Kane’s 1941 look. 

In this respect, bravos go to editor Kirk Baxter and screen scribe Jack Fincher. Interestingly, Jack Fincher wrote the screenplay in the late 1990s, when his son David was originally planning to produce Mank. Sadly, Jack died in 2003. 

But now Mank is finally produced, telling the fascinating and often disturbing story of Herman Mankiewicz’s association with Orson Welles in the production of what many consider the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane. As depicted in Mank, Welles (Tom Burke) has been complete freedom to film whatever he so desires at RKO. (Oddly, there is little if no mention of why he has such carte blanche. It was because he had made international news with his War of the Worlds radio sensation.) Welles was the “boy genius,” and he chose Mankiewicz to write a scathing, brilliant epic about publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst—disguised as Charles Foster Kane. 

After all, as told in flashbacks, Mankiewicz had been a friend of Hearst’s lover, Marion Davies, for years. He was also a frequent guest at Hearst Castle, so he knew the man quite well. (Davies is portrayed by Amanda Seyfried; Charles Dance plays Hearst.) 

It was no surprise that Hearst fought against the release of Citizen Kane, and even had a ban on advertising the film in his newspapers and magazines. (It suffered financially, but not critically—in non-Hearst media.) 

Mank’s focus is on the struggles of Herman Mankiewicz as he constantly deals with alcoholism while trying to meet script deadlines. In the process, he encounters the likes of MGM’s head, Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard),
producer (and much later actor) John Houseman (Sam Troughton), and Irving Thalberg (Ferdinand Kingsley). On a lighter note, look for Bill Nye (“The Science Guy”) as writer and political activist Upton Sinclair.

Very closely involved with Mank’s health and well being are his wife Sara (Tuppence Middleton) and brother, writer/director Joe Mankiewicz (Tom Pelphrey). 

A particularly memorable scene involves a drunken Mank crashing a costumed dinner party in the great dining hall at Hearst Castle, and creating a scene that includes broken glass, embarrassment, anger, and vomiting. How much this sequence is based on fact is speculative unto itself. However, it is believable.

Above all else in Mank, super kudos go to the remarkably talented Gary Oldman, who stuns as Herman Mankiewicz. Oldman has never gotten the deserved credit for his ability to convincingly portray a wide range of personalities. From Count Dracula to Winston Churchill to Beethoven to Sid Vicious to Lee Harvey Oswald, the Oscar winning Oldman became them in total. In 106 movies and TV shows, he gets my vote for the most transformational artist in movie history. That includes the brilliant work of Lon Chaney Sr., Christian Bale, Paul Muni, and Daniel Day-Lewis. 

At the very least, when Mank is released on DVD, it should be paired with Citizen Kane in a boxed set. Each would complement the other.

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: A-

By Steve Crum

The other day I rewatched a favorite Sophia Loren film, Boy on a Dolphin, a literally colorful 1957 flick in which she co-starred with Alan Ladd. Loren was 23 then, and an emerging Hollywood star. Four years later, she had emerged big time with her Best Actress Oscar for Two Women. Now, after decades of accolades and awards for her movie work, Loren stars in The Life Ahead, her first feature since 2009’s Nine. 

At 86 years, Sophia Loren returns in a triumphant, Oscar worthy performance.

In a rework of 1977’s Madame Rosa with Simone Signoret in the title role (based upon The Life Before Us by Romain Gary), Loren portrays Rosa, a Jewish Holocaust survivor and former prostitute. Unlike Signoret’s French take, this Rosa is Italian—with English subtitles, by the way.

Loren’s son, Edoardo Ponti, both directed and co-wrote the screenplay. 

The story involves the elderly Rosa, referenced as “Madame Rosa,” who has for years retired to a rather meager life of caretaking the children of local Bari, Italy prostitutes. (Filming was in Bari.) But she is content, and helps raise her wards with strict, often religious, conviction. In fact, one of her current two children is a Jewish boy Rosa teaches Hebrew. 

The plot focuses early on to a 12 year-old street thief/drug pusher named Momo, vividly played by Ibrahima Gueye. Madame Rosa crosses his path when he steals her bag in the plaza, and knocks her down. It is beyond a challenge when she reluctantly agrees with her kind Dr. Cohen (Renato Carpentieri) to take him into her home. Momo is an orphaned Senegalese immigrant child who has hardened to living on the streets. 

Momo’s stubbornness to Rosa is adamant: “I don’t want to be like other kids!”

Various conflicts and hourly challenges occur as Momo maintains his street smarts behind the stern but loving back of Rosa. Momo becomes comfortable around his new “family,” which includes a boy his age as well as a toddler girl. The girl’s mother, Lola (Abril Zamora), is Rosa’s best friend as well as a working woman of the street. 

Rosa’s health takes a downturn, putting her in frequent catatonic states…and Momo’s stead slowly changes to caretaker. The transformation does not occur easily. Thanks to an incisive screenplay and sensitive direction, realism prevails.

Mention must be made of Babak Karimi’s sensitive portrayal of Hamil, a local shop owner who befriends Momo at Rosa’s insistence.

The Life Ahead is a wonderfully crafted character study of Rosa and Momo, both of whom fight the inevitable sad truths of the world.  

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: A-

By Steve Crum

A movie like Palmer could not have been green lighted ten or even five years ago. Maybe not even a couple of years past. But here it is—a difficult and heartwarming story about a young man who is dealing with others accepting his gender non-conforming preferences. 

The twist here is the young man is actually a very young boy of seven years. The boy, Sam, is magnificently portrayed by first-time actor Ryder Allen. 

Palmer is also a wrenching story about neglect and love.

Director Fisher Stevens is a jack of multiple TV and movie trades (actor, director, producer), including co-producing The Cove (2009), an Oscar winning documentary. Stevens is more familiar to me as attorney Marvin Gerard in TV’s The Blacklist. The original screenplay for Palmer is by Cheryl Guerriero. 

Justin Timberlake believably portrays Eddie Palmer, who returns to his small Louisiana hometown after 12 years in prison. (He was imprisoned for nearly killing a guy in an argument.) The ex-convict moves in with his Grandmother Vivian (the always great to see June Squibb), who lives in a modest old house. 

In contrast to Eddie’s younger days, he is now settled and even tempered. He is definitely happy to be with his grandmother. Along comes Sam, the young son of Shelly (Juno Temple), who live next door in a trailer. Shelly and her abusive boyfriend are druggies/alcoholics who take trips out of town, leaving Sam with Vivian for sometimes weeks at a time. Vivian clothes and feeds Sam, as well as helping him catch the daily school bus. At school, Sam is lucky to have an understanding teacher, Maggie Hayes (Alisha Wainwright). 

The routine drastically changes when Vivian suddenly dies. Eddie’s rehabilitation truly begins when he recognizes the need for Sam to have an adult at home totally in his corner. Eddie is reluctant at first, but cares more and more for Sam as the days go on in the absence of Sam’s mom. 

Complicating matters is Sam’s tendency to only play in little girls’ games, including dolls. Bullying abounds. You get the picture.

Enter Child Protective Services, and complications—as they say—ensue. 

Palmer is obviously a low budget endeavor, particularly noting that Timberlake is not known as a box office draw for his acting. But the acting and powerful storytelling belie expectations. See it, and you will be impressed. Timberlake underplays terrifically. 

Although Palmer is sometimes uneasy to watch, its uplifting pluses make it so worthwhile. 

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: A-

By Steve Crum

The Prom is based on Broadway’s The Prom, and is all about going to the prom. That is simply and repetitively put. While it is reminiscent of high school-set musicals like Grease and even Hairspray, The Prom is a lesser, distant cousin. Add to that disappointing. 

Considering The Prom’s stellar cast and production credentials, it is doubly disappointing.

Check out the star roster: Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Keegan-Michael Key, Andrew Rannells, Ariana DeBose, and Kerry Washington. Despite their valiant tries, they are working with a predictable, mediocre script by Bob Martin and Chad Beguilin, who also wrote the Broadway production. What does not help is a forgettable score by Matthew Sklar and David Klotz. The 131-minute running time belies expectations.

With a string of successful TV shows he created and produced (Glee, American Horror Story, Nip-Tuck among them), Emmy and Tony winner Ryan Murphy directed and produced The Prom. 

So why does the film fall short? The answer is overproduction and slickness.

Using a plot device not so dissimilar to 1984’s Footloose, a midwestern small town (Edgewater, Indiana) prohibits a senior female student, Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman) of James Madison High School from taking her female girlfriend to the prom. In Footloose, the entire community banned any rock music and dancing from invading their high school territory. Although The Prom’s nemesis is PTA head Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington), community parents hop on her bandwagon—emphasis on BANdwagon. No way will gayness be accepted. Although the principal (Keegan-Michael Key) supports Emma, he gives in to parental pressure. 

Cut to Broadway. A pair of self-centered, aging stars who have seen better days are despairing over the opening night closing of what they both hoped to be a comeback musical. Their show, Eleanor! The Eleanor Roosevelt Story, is a super flop. For what it is worth, just the thought of an Eleanor Roosevelt musical amounts to the movie’s biggest laugh. 

The two retreat to a nearby bar, and find solace in two out-of-work actors, played by Andrew Rannells and Nicole Kidman. The four soon discover the Emma story on Twitter, unite, and travel to Indiana as a self-serving publicity angle to take up her cause. 

A whole lotta singing and dancing about love, acceptance, and sexual equality follows via enthusiastic production numbers performed by Streep, Corden, Kidman, Rannells, and company.

The song titles reflect such: Changing Lives, The Acceptance Song, Love Thy Neighbor, Tonight Belongs To You, and on and on. Nothing hummable.

Wow, The Prom glitters! But by its upbeat finale, we are reaffirmed that there is no gold amongst the glitter. 

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: C-

By Steve Crum

Of The Midnight Sky’s nearly two hour running time, George Clooney’s Augustine Lofthouse singly and brilliantly occupies over half. It is a task that speaks highly of Clooney the actor AND director. I say “singly” even though there is the inclusion of a preteen stowaway not long after the story opens. Let me clarify that he is the only one speaking. (This will be explained.) 

Clooney gives a nuanced, somber performance which comes to life during a pair of action sequences that involve blinding snow, cracking ice, and frigid water. Be aware that the blizzard shooting occurred on location in Iceland during 50-mile-per-hour winds at 40 below 0. Call it enhanced, reactionary acting. 

Mark L. Smith’s screenplay, based upon Lily Brooks-Dalton’s book, Good Morning, Midnight, tells the story of brilliant scientist  Lofthouse in 2049. He is all alone on Earth after the surviving population has space-shipped out to Jupiter’s habitable K-23 moon for survival. 

The gray bearded scientist is slowly dying, as shown by his daily health regimen. Through flashbacks of 30-plus years, we discover the young Lofthouse (Ethan Peck) had a romantic relationship with Jean Sullivan (Sophie Rundle), which ended due to choosing between career and marriage. As Lofthouse indulged in his professional passion, he became increasingly self-centered and unable to bond with other humans. Decades later, the loner is now truly alone. 

A plot turn drastically changes things when Lofthouse discovers a frightened little girl, later identified as Iris (Caoilinn Springall), hiding in his store room. Seemingly unable to speak, Iris reluctantly communicates with the old man through visual prompts like drawings and (gulp) peas. She becomes his sidekick of sorts, accompanying him throughout the Arctic structure as well as a terrifying snowmobile trip to a distant antenna shed. They grow fond of each other, and more dependent. 

Act 2 focuses on the spacecraft Aether, which is nearing the earth after being away on an exploratory mission, unaware their planet is undergoing disaster. Crew members are having their own challenges, including an asteroid shower which imperils them as well as the ship’s structure. Add to that a newly discovered pregnancy. 

It all adds up to much more than what might sound like an outer space soap opera. Earth is uninhabitable, except for dying scientist Augustine. So now what to do? Clooney, as well as the entire Aether crew, make the implausible plausible. That is a credit to their acting. Kudos to Felicity Jones as Dr. Iris “Sully” Sullivan—on board the ship, and her fellow astronauts, played by David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir, and Kyle Chandler.  

A fine score, featuring reflective violin and piano, is by the great Alexandre Desplat. Martin Ruhe’s cinematography is stunning. 

The Midnight Sky has a heartbreaking finale preceded by grief, melancholy, regret, isolation, and repressed love. 

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: A-