Citizen Kane (1941)

Well, we watched Citizen Kane in film class last night. I had seen the movie a couple years ago, but forgot most of the movie. Obviously, I had some pretty big expectations for the movie coming in, as it is considered to be the greatest American film ever made. I really enjoyed this movie on pretty much every level; the plot, the actors, the cinematography were all fantastic. I was completely wrapped up in the story, but sometimes there were unique filming techniques that jumped out at me. It wasn't distracting, but just made me appreciate the quality of this legendary film even more.

One aspect of the movie that I just absolutely loved was Orson Welles' creative ways of transitions between scenes. There was a ton of graphic matches, such as a closeup of Susan's eye fading into a stain-glass eye in one of Kane's mansion windows. Another example is the opening shots of different angles of Xanadu, with the window's light remaining in the exact same spot on screen during several dissolves. Some of the graphic matches are easily overlooked, but I just thought it was a subtle use of creativity to add a unique quality to the film.

Citizen Kane seemed to just get everything right. All the actors were perfectly natural portraying their characters. The plot was simple, a rich man's life, but contained complex emotional themes to make it interesting. There was a perfect distribution of subtle humor. Plus, there were ambiguous elements in the story that make you think and add your own interpretation. I can easily see how this film became known as one of the greatest, but it is not too pretentious to become alienated from casual audiences.

Side Note: During the film, I kept thinking that certain lines and songs in the movie (the big band singer: "It can't be love, for there is no true love", the dancers: " There is a man, a certain man, and for the poor you may be sure, that he'll do all he can") that sounded extraordinarily familiar. Walking back to my dorm I realized. They're all in a White Stripes song! Look up The Union Forever by The White Stripes. It's an homage to Citizen Kane, and every line of the song is taken directly from the film. Check it out!