Mank & David Fincher's films: From the Quest for Truth to a Deeper Humanity

Mank suggests that to tell a story is to present a lens on truth. It shows that there's an art to getting to the truth of people, without locking or owning the keys to that truth. To me, that's the most interesting layer to the film.

I wrote a piece that discusses Mank from that perspective. It's focused on the specifics of Mank but it also uses them to illustrate the broader themes and concerns within David Fincher’s work.

Here is the link to the feature:
https://medium.com/framerated/mank-david-fincher-from-the-quest-for-truth-to-a-deeper-humanity-748e7774b1af

Mank & David Fincher's films: From the Quest for Truth to a Deeper Humanity

There’s little doubt that David Fincher and many of the characters he’s interested in — detectives, investigative journalists, screenwriters — are concerned with the search for truth. A point repeatedly raised is how attainable truth really is. What if, asks Zodiac (2007), at the end of years of research, the truth remains, and will always remain, out of reach? What if, in The Social Network (2010), we approach the truth of the main character’s motivations by way of a variety of angles, depositions, and second-hand accounts, but leave significant gaps in that truth that linger beyond the final frame? What would be the effect on audiences? The concern with truth and with the lack of it runs through so much of the director’s work...

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