Alike, but not alike

By coincindence the last two movies I watched on Netflix — Café Society and Mank — happened to both be set in 1930s Hollywood.

Mank is very much about 1930s Hollywood. Mankiewicz was a leading (though often behind-the-scenes) figure of a transformational generation . . . the one that took Americana from the silent film era to the distinctive very-talky, sophisticated, rapid-fire patter of 1940s culture. Dialogue equivalent to jazz riffs. It was the period of ascendant American cultural dominance.

(By the way, if you get a chance to watch Mank, or read up about him, then check out the bio of Larry Hart; two peas in a pod: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_Hart)

Café Society is not really about 1930s Hollywood at all. It’s about the poignant and so common (though often unacknowledged) life-challenge separation between romantic feelings and familial feelings.