Face it, nobody watched 'Mank'
March 31, 2021 11:29 AM   Subscribe

Although the pandemic has left households paying for more streaming services than ever, the majority of the best picture nominees at the Oscars are unknown to entertainment consumers. According to a recent survey, the most known best picture nominee was “Judas and the Black Messiah,” the HBO Max drama about Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, with just over 46% awareness. Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” was second with 39% awareness, followed by Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland” with 35% awareness.

After the best picture nominees were announced, industry researcher Guts + Data surveyed 1,500 active entertainment consumers — moviegoers, transactional home entertainment consumers and streaming consumers — to gauge their awareness of the films, using the title, stars and poster as prompts. More specifically, “awareness” was gauged by a binary “heard of” / “not heard of” option when presented with basic marquee facts, such as “The Father,” starring Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman and Mark Gatiss.

According to the survey, the most known best picture nominee was “Judas and the Black Messiah,” the HBO Max drama about Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, with just over 46% awareness. Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” was second with 39% awareness, followed by Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland” with 35% awareness. Less than a quarter of those surveyed were familiar with Amazon Studios’ “The Sound of Metal” (23% awareness) and the Hollywood valentine “Mank” (18%), also on Netflix.
posted by Clustercuss (67 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well, hell, some of these options weren't even on streaming services until just recently and we've all been locked up in our freakin' houses waiting for vaccines so there's no chance we would have been going to see anything in theaters. How'd they think people would have heard of a film which was only just released in streaming services three days ago?

However, if you can see The Father that is worth it, the end
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:31 AM on March 31, 2021 [7 favorites]


These are maybe the most accessible set of best picture nominees ever? Small towns were not getting half of these movies a year ago, and now all of them are streamable?
posted by sandmanwv at 11:38 AM on March 31, 2021 [4 favorites]


hey just because I can't remember watching Mank doesn't mean i didn't
posted by Bwentman at 11:44 AM on March 31, 2021 [30 favorites]


Still half-convinced that Mank is an absurd British comedy along the lines of Mindhorn.
posted by rodlymight at 11:45 AM on March 31, 2021 [10 favorites]


Oh, and I know at least 3 people who did watch Mank, and loved it so much that "to 'Mank'" has become a code word they use for when one of them is getting kind of carried away with a train of thought and spiraling down into a monomania ("dude, you're Manking, let's change the subject maybe").
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:45 AM on March 31, 2021 [2 favorites]


Nobody watched Mank because the title sounds like what you call the stuff on your sponge after you wipe the floor behind the toilet with it.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 11:51 AM on March 31, 2021 [24 favorites]


It's reasonable that the general public may not know the best pictures. In general, technical quality is at odds with general market palatability. More people know McDonalds than basically any Michelin-starred restaurant.

These awards shows are already a bit of a joke, but I do find them nice ways to discover good movies that I may have missed.

If popularity were the metric, then Trolls World Tour might be up for Best Picture, which seems at odds with the Academy's goals.
posted by explosion at 11:51 AM on March 31, 2021 [3 favorites]


"Cartoon reboot “Tom & Jerry” had the highest awareness at 88%."

I'm sure this has absolutely nothing to do with the characters having been around since the 1940s. Definitely when asked "Are you familiar with Tom & Jerry" everyone assumed this was referring to "Tom & Jerry (2021 film)".

"The Eddie Murphy sequel “Coming 2 America” had the highest awareness at 75%"

*Cynicism intensifies*
posted by oulipian at 11:51 AM on March 31, 2021 [16 favorites]


Sound of Metal looks amazing but isn't streaming in Canada as far as I can tell. Why does Amazon have Amazon Originals which aren't available world-wide on Amazon. Why would they sell the rights to third-parties in countries in which they own streaming services?!
posted by dobbs at 11:56 AM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


Does Mank have Tony Sholhoub?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:57 AM on March 31, 2021 [18 favorites]


This is pretty easy, nobody watched Mank cuz it was black and white and looked super boring.
posted by windbox at 11:59 AM on March 31, 2021 [3 favorites]


Manky: Probably a drawback in the UK market, at least.
posted by Grangousier at 12:03 PM on March 31, 2021 [3 favorites]


I'll do you one better: I haven't even seen the movie that Mank is a movie about.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:03 PM on March 31, 2021 [12 favorites]


Plus it's a movie about someone making a movie. Not something the average viewer is going to find interesting. Of course the average member of the Academy will find that concept fascinating which is why it's up for best picture. See also every other movie about people making movies.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:04 PM on March 31, 2021 [19 favorites]


It's boring. I like boring movies. And black and white. And Hollywood navel gazing.
This was just boring-boring.
posted by signal at 12:07 PM on March 31, 2021 [9 favorites]


I'd say 35% to 46% awareness is an impressive achievement in this media landscape.
posted by riruro at 12:09 PM on March 31, 2021 [5 favorites]


I'll do you one better: I haven't even seen the movie that Mank is a movie about.

So did you get the reference in that Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns was looking for his lost teddy bear Bobo?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:09 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


Although all the people voting make movies for a living, so they might be the target audience for the film, and it might do a lot better than people expect.

I haven't seen it, either.
posted by Grangousier at 12:10 PM on March 31, 2021


I watched it! So did my wife! It was OK. It's one of the few best picture-nominated movies I've seen in the year it was nominated.

Also saw Soul, so that's two! In one year! (And we liked it a lot more than Mank.)
posted by lhauser at 12:11 PM on March 31, 2021


I tried to watch Mank. I managed to make it through 40 minutes or thereabouts and then shut it off and read a book. Life's too short.
posted by holborne at 12:11 PM on March 31, 2021 [4 favorites]


NEWS FLASH: The tastes of Academy voters are not the same as the tastes of the general public. I am shocked, shocked!

(Also: The reason there aren't more blockbustery titles nominated this year is because the studios withheld their blockbustery releases so they could make more money from them with theatrical releases after the pandemic is over.)
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:12 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


So did you get the reference in that Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns was looking for his lost teddy bear Bobo?
The Simpsons reference sounds vaguely familiar, so I probably saw it (although I haven't watched the Simpsons in years), and would likely have assumed it was a Rosebud stand-in. I've seen bits and pieces of Citizen Kane about a trillion times. It was pretty ubiquitous as a cultural reference during my lifetime. I just never sat down and watched the actual movie. Wasn't really taking a stand or anything, just never did.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:20 PM on March 31, 2021


Well, I've _heard_ of all of these, because I live in Hollywood and basically every billboard/wall/ad space is for movies/shows. I haven't _watched_ any of them, however.
posted by thefoxgod at 12:22 PM on March 31, 2021 [3 favorites]


I'll do you one better: I haven't even seen the movie that Mank is a movie about.

My sincerest condolences. :(
posted by fairmettle at 12:38 PM on March 31, 2021


I haven't seen a single one of these, although I'm interested in a few.

One reason: I'm too damned busy. Some of us have been spending the pandemic working like crazy.

Another: I usually devote rare viewing time to non-Oscar stuff, like what's going off of Criterion this month.
posted by doctornemo at 12:46 PM on March 31, 2021


Given that Citizen Kane didn't win best picture, it would seem odd to me to give Mank the nod. It is an okay film, Fincher is a technically adept director, but it is not of the quality of what was made eighty years ago — not even of what other films were nominated in 1941.

But then I don't really understand many of the best picture choices made over the years: Lord of the Rings vs Master and Commander? Crash vs Brokeback Mountain? Forrest Gump vs Pulp Fiction? Green Book vs The Favourite? So many great — and much better — films are left by the wayside by the academy.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:03 PM on March 31, 2021


I'm a huge Orson Welles fan and was excited about Mank given that it was about Welles' best movie and directed by David fucking Fincher and it was fine. Or almost fine. Let's say I didn't hate it. I made the mistake of re-watching Kane the night before in preparation and Mank really doesn't even come close.
posted by octothorpe at 1:11 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


Of the others, I've seen Nomadland and Judas and thought highly of both of them. I'm going to try to see all of them before the ceremony.

Frankly, from the ones I've seen and what I've read, I think that this is a really strong set of picture. There's no real head scratchers like Green Book or god help us, Joker and except for The Father none of them seem like pure Oscar-bait.
posted by octothorpe at 1:15 PM on March 31, 2021


I think this is the first year in a long time that I haven't seen any of the best picture nominees, but that honestly says more about the kind of year it's been than the movies themselves or my desire to see them.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:26 PM on March 31, 2021


The thing about "Mank" is that it's not really about Citizen Kane or Orson Welles, exactly. It's about the larger American history of billionaires using their money and power to manipulate the populace through the media. The central incident of the movie is how Mayer and Thalberg used studio contract actors to create race bating political ads to sink a populist candidate for California governor. It's actually a very timely and important story.

But yes, it is layered over with all the vintage Hollywood style and glamour, constantly name dropping people who were huge names at the time but few other than true film history buffs have any clue about now. (And I don't think you have to know them to get or enjoy Mank, but I can certainly understand if it feels like you're supposed to know about them when you watch it.) The whole time I was watching I thought "well, I'm liking this quite a bit, but man, is anyone younger than me gonna understand it at all?"

[Is this a good place to insert my rant that the overlooking of "The Forty-Year Old Version" by the Oscars is a fucking TRAVESTY, because that film is AMAZINGLY good...]
posted by dnash at 1:27 PM on March 31, 2021 [12 favorites]


"Mank" is about David Fincher finally disappearing into his own navel. Oh, and it's also about"Citizen Kane"

("Nomadland" is pretty amazing. So is "Judas and the Black Messiah." And "Minari." I really loved "Minari")
posted by thivaia at 1:29 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


I thought Mank was biopic about that bald-headed mank Karl Pilkington.
posted by deadaluspark at 1:36 PM on March 31, 2021 [5 favorites]


A few of my other favorite films of 2020 were:

Dick Johnson is Dead
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
American Utopia
Da 5 Bloods
The Vast of Night
Palm Springs
Tenet
I'm Your Woman
She Dies Tomorrow
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
posted by octothorpe at 1:40 PM on March 31, 2021 [6 favorites]


Best Picture and popular success have not been well-correlated for years.

The only difference this year is that box office gross is not a valid metric, because, pandemic, so streaming data is the next best thing.
posted by basalganglia at 2:00 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


Your quick-quick guide as to what is worth watching and what isn't out of the Oscar nominees:

Musts: Minari, Sound of Metal, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, Another Round, Wolfwalkers, Time

Worthwhiles: Promising Young Woman, Pieces of a Woman, The Father, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Soul, One Night In Miami, Collective

Okays: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon, My Octopus Teacher, Crip Camp, The Mole Agent

Skips: Onward, Trial of the Chicago 7, Over the Moon

Throw Them Down A Well: Mank, Hillbilly Elegy
posted by mightygodking at 2:01 PM on March 31, 2021 [7 favorites]


except for The Father none of them seem like pure Oscar-bait.

You may be pleasantly surprised by The Father. I saw that a couple days ago, and - okay, I know what you mean that it sounds like Oscar Bait but it didn't come across that way at all. It's telling the story of Anthony Hopkins' character's dementia from his character's perspective, so it's got a disorienting, roundabout structure - conversations repeat themselves in the same scene, characters we saw say things later deny having said them, random stuff appears and disappears, actors will repeat entire monologues we heard a completely different actor say earlier. It doesn't have the feel of an obvious Oscar Bait film (and I know what you mean, the kind of things Ikea might sell in a flat pack if it did movies).

I mean, I have a feeling it's a long shot for the statuette, but it's not as obviously a Malm OSKAR thing.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:05 PM on March 31, 2021 [2 favorites]


I just saw Mank last night and it wasn't as boring as I'd feared. I liked it. But if I hadn't seen it in a theater, I don't think I would have had the attention span for such a relatively quiet, slow-moving black and white movie. Academy people will probably love it.
posted by Jess the Mess at 2:14 PM on March 31, 2021


I saw wolf walkers and soul so far, that’s it. Probably because Saturday is family movie night. Both good ... animation style and creativity in Wolf Walkers is outstanding.
posted by freecellwizard at 3:33 PM on March 31, 2021


We turned off Mank after 20 minutes or so. Kinda bored with it and you could sort of see how it was going to go.

Watched “Quo Vadis, Aida?” and really loved it. (Though it's way sad and you know just what is coming.)
posted by Catblack at 3:39 PM on March 31, 2021


The central incident of the movie is how Mayer and Thalberg used studio contract actors to create race bating political ads

Yes but I'd seen Mank and had to run thought the scenes to recall that that topic was the important theme, it was just woven into the story in a bunch of convoluted (read inebriated) threads.

My quip was going to be something like "who wouldn't be enthralled by a drunken writer with a broken leg grouching at his nurses in a dusty Off Off Hollywood Boulevard (out in the desert) bungalow while writing a famous movie script?

At least the wikipedia editor got in a good one: "Mank was shot in black-and-white using RED cameras."

I actually really liked it, but it did need more Marion Davies.
posted by sammyo at 3:42 PM on March 31, 2021


Nomadland is meh, as well. It's got Frances McDormand, and nice landscapes and not-actor actors, it just doesn't do anything with them, not even in the 'not doing anything with them' way that movies like, say, Van Sant's Gerry doesn't do anything, or Paris Texas, . People move around, meet up in different parts of the US. OK.
posted by signal at 3:42 PM on March 31, 2021 [2 favorites]


I saw Mank. It was fine. Not amazeballs. Just ok.

I really liked The Vast Of Night, and Nomadland.

I thought Palm Springs and I Care A Lot were cute, nothing super special, but cute.

I wanted/struggled/ failed to like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

I have Sound Of Metal on my 'must watch' list.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 3:50 PM on March 31, 2021


"Sound of Metal looks amazing but isn't streaming in Canada as far as I can tell. ..."
posted by dobbs at 2:56 PM on March 31
tiff.net has Sound of Metal for rent.

I haven't seen it, but I enjoyed Riz Ahmed's performance in The Night Of.

So far I've seen 7 of the films up for any nomination and four more which I should be able to squeeze in before golden baldy night.
posted by ecco at 4:05 PM on March 31, 2021


"dude, you're Manking, let's change the subject maybe"

(Since nobody's used it yet)
What a Manker.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:07 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


Yeah, hey, I'm that one person who admits that I loved Mank.

I loved it because it's a swell post-modern period-piece, a flash-back to a different era reflecting those times with an incisive wit and some essential sadness. The kinda thing designed to appeal to a bitter & cynical old film enthusiast such as myself.
posted by ovvl at 5:08 PM on March 31, 2021


I enjoyed Mank, but it got late and I turned it off and I never restarted it. I may check it out again, it was enjoyable but I guess not exactly compelling.
posted by chaz at 5:11 PM on March 31, 2021


Why does Amazon have Amazon Originals which aren't available world-wide on Amazon.

Because all media rights are owned by someone else here in Canada (in this case it is Pacific Northwest Pictures). I only see it for rent or to "buy" via Itunes, Cineplex, Tiff and Youtube. Justwatch.com is useful in figuring out where things are available for streaming but if you're like me, more often then not, you will become infuriated at how little is properly available to stream in Canada.
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:32 PM on March 31, 2021


I usually never see any of the Oscar nominees, so no difference to me this year. I just watch superhero movies :P

I am totally enjoying the Mank snark in this thread, though. Also 'Mank" just sounds like exactly what was grossly described above, to a non-old-Hollywood person.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:55 PM on March 31, 2021


Am I the only person who was so profoundly annoyed at Mank that they had to turn it off in the first 11 minutes? The too-clever "ooh, if you noticed this, YOU'RE REALLY A HOLLYWOOD FILM BUFF" nonsense with the lighting tricks and the fake rear-projection (FAKE REAR-PROJECTION!!!) and "look, you can't really see the Hollywood sign from this studio" and so on and so forth made it impossible for me to pay attention to what anybody was doing. I'm totally the audience for this film and I seriously was too angry to keep watching. It felt like total contempt for Welles and the audience and anybody who liked Citizen Kane.

Okay... I gotta go soak my head for a second.
posted by queensissy at 6:39 PM on March 31, 2021 [3 favorites]


The antidote for that is to go watch Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid; and to play Name That Classic Noir Film for each edited-in clip.
posted by bartleby at 7:30 PM on March 31, 2021 [4 favorites]


Mank did have all that Upton Sinclair stuff, so that was about 10% less Hollywood auto-fellatio than the usual.

Maggie Mae Fish had my favourite review of My Octopus Teacher.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 8:03 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]


I mostly felt like Mank should have gone all in on doing the whole thing like it was 1942. Shoot on Kodak Tri-X with no digital effects, edit it on a moviola and release it in 4:3. The digital B&W they did use looks too sharp and clean and the shadows aren't inky enough and it's presented in a 2.2:1 aspect which just looks wrong.
posted by octothorpe at 8:20 PM on March 31, 2021 [5 favorites]


Shoot on Kodak Tri-X with no digital effects, edit it on a moviola and release it in 4:3.
Then lose the master in an archive fire..

(But Mank followed by finally seeing all the bits of Citizen Kane that I'd never seen before while idly channel surfing in the 90's worked for me somehow.)
posted by joeyh at 4:45 AM on April 1, 2021 [3 favorites]


it would seem odd to me to give Mank the nod. It is an okay film, Fincher is a technically adept director...

oh. How soon till there is a movie "Finch" about making a movie about making a movie? Instant plot twist - looks like the screenwriter and director of Mank are related?
posted by Dotty at 10:37 AM on April 1, 2021


How the hell did I not know about Minari??

I don't live under a rock. I've heard of almost every other film mentioned here. There's something seriously amiss about how so many good films are so poorly publicized.

Where is everyone going to get their recommendations/reviews?
posted by mikeand1 at 11:54 AM on April 1, 2021


Where is everyone going to get their recommendations/reviews?

There are a couple Youtube channels that once a week post a compilation of all of the trailers that have dropped over the course of the previous week. I check in on them both once a week.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:17 PM on April 1, 2021 [1 favorite]


Where is everyone going to get their recommendations/reviews?

Rogerebert.com reviews almost every film released anywhere; I keep it in my RSS feed. Also podcasts: Filmspotting, Last Picture Show, Pop Culture Happy Hour.
posted by octothorpe at 1:35 PM on April 1, 2021 [1 favorite]


Where is everyone going to get their recommendations/reviews?

I have become an old fuddy who relies on reviews/interviews on public radio.
posted by riruro at 1:38 PM on April 1, 2021


I watched all of Mank. It had its moments, but most of its moments were dull.
posted by Sassenach at 4:14 PM on April 1, 2021 [1 favorite]


We watched The Trial of the Chicago 7 last night and I'm kind of surprised it got any nominations at all. When the written and directed by Aaron Sorkin came up at the end I turned to my wife and said "I'm sorry" because I've seen Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip so no more from him, for me, thanks. Trial would have made a great 4-6 hour HBO miniseries, but it was pretty clunky as a too-long movie.
posted by Catblack at 5:12 PM on April 1, 2021 [1 favorite]


I watched about the first fifteen minutes of Mank before I had to stop due to a real life derail, not to the quality of the movie. All I can say is it's got gorgeous b&w photography and seems to be very inside baseball about Hollywood. Old Hollywood, that only film otaku and the extremely elderly know about. I may pay it another visit, but who knows.

David Fincher is an excellent director, one of our best, but I'm usually just sort of puzzled why he chooses those stories as the best vehicle for his art. The Social Network? The guy who made all of our hearts stop with Se7en did a biopic of...Mark Zuckerberg? Who, to me, is still about the least interesting person in the world to do a biopic of. I know Zodiac got a lot of respect in film circles but I found it more dull than interesting. House of Cards played into his strong suit: dark people doing bad things, but Gone Girl and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were fairly solid but also fairly forgettable. I hope Fincher gives us another Se7en or Fight Club one of these days.
posted by zardoz at 12:30 AM on April 2, 2021 [2 favorites]


I loved Gone Girl but I feel like the best thing that Fincher has directed in the last decade was the two seasons of Mindhunter.
posted by octothorpe at 5:05 AM on April 2, 2021 [2 favorites]


I'm a bit surprised by all of the Mank-hating going on Metafilter tonite? It's a bit old-fashioned and maybe not for everyone, but it's not so terrible, is it?
posted by ovvl at 5:42 PM on April 2, 2021


I rather liked it, but I'm glad I saw it reclined and stoned.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 2:15 AM on April 4, 2021


I’d like to add my praise for Judas and the Black Messiah. Everyone in it is amazing but I especially have a soft spot for LaKeith Stanfield.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:39 AM on April 4, 2021


Oh, I forgot the mediocrity that is Benjamin Button. So much blood and sweat went into that production; it's gorgeous to look at, but the story left me very cold and borderline depressed.
posted by zardoz at 9:36 PM on April 6, 2021


And now that it's post-Oscar ceremony -

I saw all 8 Best Picture nominees, and at the time of the broadcast I didn't have a favorite I was hoping would win; however, I did have one that I was hoping would not win, largely because if Trial of the Chicago 7 had beaten Judas And The Black Messiah I would have been really, really pissed. Chicago 7 mentions the assassination at the heart of Judas in passing, but Chicago 7 just sort of Sorkins all over it and it's treated like an afterthought instead of the full story that Judas shows us that it is.

...And now it's nearly a week after the Oscars and I'm finding that I slightly preferred Sound of Metal above everything, even though I'm perfectly fine with Nomadland ultimately taking the trophy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:33 AM on April 29, 2021


« Older "It is up to you to keep your potatoes out of my...   |   The Curve on the Letter M Has Also Been Changed... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments