Citizen Kane

I usually only review current films seen in the theater. But I finally watched a film last night on Turner Classic Movies recorded eons ago on our DVR that merits attention.

Citizen Kane.



Wow. Why did I wait so long to see this?

The 1941 film concerns the rise of newspaper mogul Charles Foster Kane: from simple upbringing in cold Colorado, to boarding school eastward, to newspaper mogul, to failed governor's candidate, to failed marriage, to a lonely death in an unfinished mansion. The film begins with Kane's dying last word, "Rosebud", then sets off a moviereel about his life. The story then crisscrosses acquaintances and friends and lovers to try and unwrap the mystery of the media man's dying word. Who, or what, is Rosebud? What would make him utter such a term with his last breath?

You witness the ambition. You see the power. You observe the man attempting to mold others into not what they want, but rather what HE thinks they want. You see the man, success in the eyes of others but methinks a failure in his own heart, yearn for that return to innocence before the wildly flamboyant ride he lived. A yearning for Rosebud, when all was safe and carefree.

The film, for 1941 or any age for that matter, depicts vivid scene framing. The foreground, the background, the lighting, the dark shadows, the fact that you never see the face of the primary interviewer who traverses the country searching for answers. all these intermingle and weave a film that unlike any other just leaps from the screen.

#1 on the American Film Institute's list of all-time best movies? I would heartily concur. I would venture to say I would even purchase this on DVD to watch over and over again. It was that good, and worthy of the hype.

A solid Full Price.