David Fincher’s new Netflix movie Deficiency feels like an invitation to a natural double feature. The film accompanies Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) on his emotional journey to writing in the 1941s Citizen Kane, especially its close relationships with the people who inspired it. Watch it back to back with the real thing Citizen Kane does a lot of things over Deficiency Clearer, for the reasons that Mankiewicz’s finished draft horrifies so many people, why Fincher structures the film the way he does it and breaks key scenes into flashbacks and flash forwards. But the window that people can find Citizen Kane The services you are already paying for close: you go TCM streaming service on December 10th and leave HBO max On the 31st of December.
Granted, it will still be available for paid digital rentals on Amazon, Redbox, Vudu and other services, but subscribers to services that currently have Citizen Kane Maybe they want to get the best bang for their buck while they can. And maybe they even want to take the time to watch Kane before and after Deficiencybecause it’s not just that revealing what’s going on DeficiencyIt’s also shockingly entertaining.
Citizen KaneLong-standing reputation as the best film of all time (AFI’s) Dial number one for best American film and so on) has also given it the reputation of a clumsy piece of veggie to watch, but the movie is far more alive, weird, and entertaining than this stereotype suggests. Orson Welles plays Charles Foster Kane, a man whose inherited wealth gives him the freedom to try anything he wants, from journalism to politics to the production of operas. The film jumps back and forth in time, starting with Kane’s death in a rundown, unfinished property, and then trying to reconstruct him through the stories other people remember, from his smug youth to his disastrous marriages. There are some weirdly large and intimidating rooms along the way, a cute but doomed and ill-advised romance, and a combative kid who uses a sled as a weapon.
Deficiency draws part of its structure from this story and much of its dramatic effects. Fincher’s story tells how Mankiewicz gets to know and despise the mogul William Randolph Hearst (played by) game of Thrones‘Charles Dance) while having a softer relationship with Hearst’s lover Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried). But the movie doesn’t talk much about how Mankiewicz is Citizen Kane The script portrays Hearst or another character who shares some biographical details with Davies, although Mankiewicz continues to insist that the character does not represent them. It is possible to deduce some details from it DeficiencyThe story and people’s reactions, but Fincher largely assumes that people know how Kane plays off and why it is a scandal worth blacklisting when Mankiewicz expresses his true feelings in his writing.
The only problem with looking at it Citizen Kane and Deficiency Back to back is that it can make the audience think less Deficiency. Fincher’s black and white camera is nowhere near as sharp and the images are not as innovative and surprising. DeficiencyThe emotions and conflict feel smaller and smaller, and the choppy cutting feels more like imitation than something the narrative needs. But the two films still inform themselves in interesting ways, and they’re more satisfying together. For those who have never gotten around to it KaneThis is an especially good time to delve into.
