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The Documentary Impulse

Stuart Franklin

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Book

Award-winning photographer Stuart Franklin's exploration of how we, as humans, are driven to...

Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best Wines

Suzanne Mustacich

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Book

The wine merchants of Bordeaux and the rising entrepreneurs of China would seem to have little in...

Timekeepers: How the World Became Obsessed with Time

Simon Garfield

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SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016 OBSERVER SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016 Not so long ago we...

A Short History of Secularism

Graeme Smith

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What does it mean to call Western society 'secular'? What is 'secularism'? And how should we...

Chinese Idiom Dictionary

Reference and Education

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=================================== 【Updgrade Information】 1. More fast and powerful idiom...

Awix (3310 KP) rated Citizen Kane (1941) in Movies

May 23, 2020

Citizen Kane (1941)

1941 | Classics, Drama, Mystery

8.6

(19 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Orson Welles' Citizen Kane is the Citizen Kane of modern movie-making. That doesn't make a lot of sense, but it tells you everything about the place of this film in our culture. Amoral narcissist inherits a huge fortune, accrues even more wealth and power by peddling fake news, but finds his political ambitions thwarted by a sex scandal (which just goes to show you how different life is from the movies).

Trying to ascertain the extent of Citizen Kane's influence on the movies is a bit like trying to map the coastline of the USA without leaving Kansas: the film is packed with so many narrative and technical innovations it's impossible to conceive of the impact it had on the industry. Terrific performances and a clever, serious script about the dangers of choosing the love of power over the power of love, and many moments and images of throwaway genius. You might have expected Welles to make more of the possibilities for unreliable narration in the movie, plus some of his technical virtuosity seems more geared towards showing off than thought-through storytelling, but this is still a genuine classic. One wonders what else Welles might have achieved, had he been allowed to continue to make films with all the resources of Hollywood behind him - but it wasn't to be. Still, this film alone guarantees him immortality.