Review of Citizen Kane (1941) by Thomas L — 04 Sep 2014

So, I have finally seen it. The godfather of cinema as we know it today. The ground-breaking achievement in terms of technical possibilities that, even to this day, still remains impressive. It is so easy to just write this movie off as the most overrated, overhyped and just plain boring movie ever made. And while I do not consider it to be one of my absolute favorite movies of all time, I still think it is pretty damn good.

The very opening has a brooding, dark undertone to it that adds to the wonder and mystery there is to find regarding Charles Foster Kane. The character study, while not as mind-blowing now, was still way ahead of its time. The character of Kane is studied in a completely engrossing way in regards of narrative structure. Every scene feels like its own little masterpiece.

But one brilliant aspect of the film, which for some reason has been so shamelessly overlooked, is the electrifying performance from producer, writer and director Orson Welles himself.

There is nothing about the technical aspects of Citizen Kane I can say that has not already been said a million times already. It is, quite simply, perfection. Almost every movie since then owns its technical and/or stylish approaches to Citizen Kane.

Citizen Kane is quite simply a masterpiece. It's ground-breaking visuals, the amazing character study and the amazing performance from Orson Welles makes Citizen Kane triumph on every possible level. It is not only a fantastic movie in retrospect, it is also a prime example of everything movies are and can be. Unlike some older movies, such as Psycho, where the pacing is outdated, Citizen Kane still has the perfect pacing. The score is a very easy 10/10!