#8, Citizen Kane

You know how stuff in general often doesn't live up to its expectation? You hear about the greatest food ever, the greatest book ever, or the like, and oftentimes it ends up sucking. I'm well versed in this sort of disappointment, so frankly, when I stuck the disc for Citizen Kane, supposedly the greatest film ever, into the DVD player I really didn't have very high expectations.

I'm sure you've guesses by now that Citizen Kane caught me completely off-guard, then. I'm not sure, but I think I spent the whole two and a half hours with my mouth agape. The film lived up to everything I had heard about it and then some. While it isn't my favorite film, I certainly would not contend after viewing that it is one of the greatest, at least of the meager few I've ever seen. While I would prefer to be able to say that any man who writes, directs, and stars in his own film inevitably gets caught up in his own ego and fails in at least two out those three, I cannot deny that Orson Welles is a genius filmmaker (even if Mankiewicz did most of the writing). Which bugs me, since so man has any right to be able to pull that off. But he does. Damn.

Citizen Kane reads like a laundry list of quality filmmaking. Following the path of a reporter attempting to discover the meaning behind the last word, Rosebud, of the late media megalith, Kane, the narrative is complex and engaging, full of colorful characters settings, and subtle twists in the direction of the story that you never notice until far later. The character of Kane himself, portrayed flawlessly by Welles, garners both sympathy and scorn, is both the reluctant hero and anti-hero. Kane is one of the most complex characters I've seen on screen, and represents a wonderful critique of the commercial giants that began to emerge in the 20th century, and continued to evolve in society today. Throughout all of the this, he manages to remain shockingly human, and I found the ending really quite profound.

The cinematography, as well, can only be described as epic and masterful. I don't think any other film before Citizen Kane used deep focus to such a great extent (i.e. the entire film). This created some truly magnificent and complicated shots, literally bringing entire scenes into perfect focus in an incredibly dynamic manner. Layer this on top of some of the sweeping shots of the larger scenes , or wonderful dynamics of the darker, more closed scenes, in particular the confrontation between Kane and Leland.

I can't really say much more than has already been said about this film. Everything you've heard about it is true. A real classic if there ever was one.

Highlights: If I had to pick one, I'd go with the ending. Spectacular.

Downers: A surprising number of goofs and continuity errors. Also, it's long, and might drag in places for some. Perhaps it also gets caught up in its own grandiose nature in places.

10/10