Citizen Kane

1. In class we had an in-depth discussion about the composition and cinematography of Citizen Kane as well as the brilliance of the story that Orson Welles told over the course of the film. The cinematography of Citizen Kane is part of why this film is considered the best film of all time. Welles’ use of space in the film is unreal. He uses space to tell a story in itself. Throughout the film the settings become larger and the physical distance between the characters in shots represents the metaphorical space that is growing between the character’s relationships. A good example of this is the montage scene of Charles Foster Kane and his first wife sitting at the table for breakfast. As time goes on they go from sitting next to one another talking while eating to sitting at opposite ends of the table reading separate newspapers without a single word being spoken. And another great example of this is towards the end of the film when Charles Foster Kane and Susan Alexander Kane are sitting in the colossal room in Xanadu talking to one another. He is sitting in a chair all the way across the room in the shadows while she is talking to him, which is right before she leaves him. The way that the story begins and ends with the same shots was also a brilliant idea by Welles.  The film starts with a shot of a “No Trespassing” sign and then an overview of the giant Xanadu mansion and ends the same way. After the opening shot you see the snow globe and hear Foster Kane say “Rosebud” and at the end you find out the meaning of “Rosebud” and why the snow globe reminded him of this word. The look and story of this film are unbelievable, especially for its time.

2. This article brings up the question on if Citizen Kane is still the greatest film of all time. According to the article every ten years Sight and Sound magazine questions critics as to what the greatest movie of all time is, and for the past fifty years the answer has always been Citizen Kane. But the author of this article says that this year maybe the end of the reign for Orson Welles’ masterpiece. The past fifty years the magazine has asked 145 critics to voice their opinion on the greatest films, but this time there will be 1,800 critics asked to weigh in on the subject. There are some critics that said that there is no way that Citizen Kane will lose its spot and there are others who are routing for it be taken down off of its pedestal, but it seems that everyone agreed that if it does lose its spot, it will not be to a film from recent years. Peter Bogdanovich said, “I don’t know what it’ll be, but if it’s some made recently I’ll throw tomatoes. If it’s Star Wars or The Godfather or Saving Private Ryan there will be a scream from me heard around the world.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9431706/Is-Citizen-Kane-still-the-greatest.html

3. This article didn’t change what I thought about Citizen Kane but it did reinforce the thought that this film is still probably the best film of all time. For the last fifty years all critics have said that this is the finest piece of cinema that has ever been created, so how can that have changed? Because younger critics may look at this film as outdated or old should not mean a thing. You have to think about the film in the time it was created and even when you look at it compared to films now, you can see that so many things from Citizen Kane has been used throughout the years that you cannot discount its brilliance. And the fact that no film recently has been made that could top it, how could anything be considered better?

 

4. This was the second time that I have seen Citizen Kane and my opinion of the film changed drastically from the first time that I saw it. The first time I saw it I was so focused on the story that I didn’t focus on all of the little things in the film that Welles did to make this film so wonderful. Everything about Citizen Kane is brilliant and I realize that now. Whether you are looking at the acting, the story, the directing or the cinematography, this film was ahead of its time. Watching it now, you can barely tell that is was made so many years ago. From start to finish, Orson Welles made a masterpiece with Citizen Kane.