Review of Citizen Kane (1941) by Manicure — 22 Nov 2020

"Citizen Kane" is still topping the best movies of all time list of all respectable film connoisseurs. Orson Welles' first feature film undeniably set a new bar for Hollywood and had a strong influence on film noir. Greg Toland's cinematography was ages ahead, particularly in his use of shadow, pan focus, and compositing to create depth, and the non-linear storytelling with multiple narrators was a significant innovation for the time. Part of the myth was also fueled by the controversy of its satire of William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper tycoon who heavily influenced public opinion on the Spanish–American War.

Still, it's undeniable that cinema has been evolving and improving ever since, and that the historical value aside "Citizen Kane" is far from being the best film ever. The writing is solid indeed, but the story is static and lacks tension, development, and any kind of emotional impact, offering little more than some sociopolitical reflections on the rise and fall of a fascinatingly ambiguous character. Welles also seems to purposedly keep Kane's figure as distant as possible to redirect our empathy towards the other characters. It kinds of bothered me that we never get to see real inner conflicts or even crucial moments of his life like the death of his son and parents (only briefly mentioned in "The News on the March"). It's almost as Welles purposedly wanted to keep us distant from the character and redirect the empathy towards the other characters' roles as unreliable narrators.

No one can deny that it still looks terrific for a film almost 80 years old, though. Just think of the uncanny opening sequence that leads to Kane's death, the journalist's visit to Thatcher's archive, or Kane's self-confinement in the Xanadu gilded cage. As the rooms get bigger and bigger, Kane is surrounded by fewer and fewer people until he is completely alone dreaming of his parents' boarding house.