Citizen Kane (1941) (Not Rated)Directed by Orson Welles
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Dorothy Comingore
Daddy Says:
I've been waiting quite a while before watching and reviewing this movie with my daughter. And I'm not sure I waited long enough. We shall see.
Citizen Kane is one of my all-time favorite films. Its driving force, actor-producer-writer-director Orson Welles was a very young man when he made this film (about 24-25 years old at the time), and he became one of my inspirations for my own career (I chose to go into television instead of film). He was given complete control over his first project, an unheard of situation both at the time and today as well. The film he made was not a success at the time, but has since gone on to become one of the most celebrated films in history.
So much has been written about this movie that it's hard to know what to write about here. I'll begin with the sound. Orson Welles began his career in radio (you may have heard of a little play called War of the Worlds that stirred up some notice back in the day) and learned how to tell a good story using only sound. He transferred that knowledge to his first movie. Listen to the music cue that ushers in the first flashback to Kane as a young boy. The music is jolly and youthful, and it ends almost as soon as it begins when Kane throws a snowball at the sign that hangs over his home's front porch. It's so short that you may not realize what it is, which is a radio cue that the scene is changing. It's not really necessary in a movie, since we can see the scene change, but it works as a sound cue to ears that were more used to radio back then.
There are many other examples. When Kane and his wife are sitting in one of the expansive rooms in their home, the sound of their voices echoes in the huge space. When Kane strikes her face during an argument, we hear a woman screaming outside their tent. No explanation is ever given for the screaming, but it serves to audibly augment the emotions happening inside the two inside the tent.
Much has been made of the film's famous use of deep focus photography, leaving everything in focus throughout the scene, allowing the viewer's eyes to determine what they want to look at, so I won't go into it in great detail here. Suffice to say that it is wonderful and I really haven't seen it used to such great effect in many other films. I could go on and on about this film, but I'm really interested to see what my daughter has to say about it.
Rating for Citizen Kane: *****.
Citizen Kane is one of my all-time favorite films. Its driving force, actor-producer-writer-director Orson Welles was a very young man when he made this film (about 24-25 years old at the time), and he became one of my inspirations for my own career (I chose to go into television instead of film). He was given complete control over his first project, an unheard of situation both at the time and today as well. The film he made was not a success at the time, but has since gone on to become one of the most celebrated films in history.
So much has been written about this movie that it's hard to know what to write about here. I'll begin with the sound. Orson Welles began his career in radio (you may have heard of a little play called War of the Worlds that stirred up some notice back in the day) and learned how to tell a good story using only sound. He transferred that knowledge to his first movie. Listen to the music cue that ushers in the first flashback to Kane as a young boy. The music is jolly and youthful, and it ends almost as soon as it begins when Kane throws a snowball at the sign that hangs over his home's front porch. It's so short that you may not realize what it is, which is a radio cue that the scene is changing. It's not really necessary in a movie, since we can see the scene change, but it works as a sound cue to ears that were more used to radio back then.
There are many other examples. When Kane and his wife are sitting in one of the expansive rooms in their home, the sound of their voices echoes in the huge space. When Kane strikes her face during an argument, we hear a woman screaming outside their tent. No explanation is ever given for the screaming, but it serves to audibly augment the emotions happening inside the two inside the tent.
Much has been made of the film's famous use of deep focus photography, leaving everything in focus throughout the scene, allowing the viewer's eyes to determine what they want to look at, so I won't go into it in great detail here. Suffice to say that it is wonderful and I really haven't seen it used to such great effect in many other films. I could go on and on about this film, but I'm really interested to see what my daughter has to say about it.
Rating for Citizen Kane: *****.
Daughter Says:
Citizen Kane seemed like a very artsy movie without anything interesting about it at all. At least that’s what I thought when I first saw this movie. But now that I have watched this movie again I appreciate it even more. This movie has a deeper meaning than just a spoiled rich man who got whatever he liked. Citizen Kane was about a man who had everything but nothing at the same time. As a little child I never really appreciated that meaning.
Yes, this movie is very artsy, but just like The Third Man it was more than just a director or a cinematographer showing off his amazing talent. They wanted to tell the story of Kane and his life as a millionaire. Everyone would have thought it bittersweet. He always got what he wanted and never needed anything, but this movie put a deeper twist to his life; the life he never had.
Some movies know how to pull off black and white brilliantly. This movie is one of them. Just like The Third Man, the cinematographer knew how to warp the shadows so, when needed, it gave the scene an eerie glow to it. The crew also did a brilliant job with the transitions. There are very few movies that can make an edit and jump in time from a small child to a young man in so few words ("Merry Christmas" says the young Kane - a quick cut to Thatcher as an old man who finishes the line "...and a Happy New Year", and just like that Charles Foster Kane is now 25 years old). The fluidity of this movie was so graceful it was breathtaking.
As a fifteen-year-old I feel like I understand this movie much more than when I was younger. So if you want your daughter or son to watch Citizen Kane I would wait until they have matured enough to understand the words behind the story. If your just looking for a movie that should be considered deep and meaningful, and also want to have a look behind a rich man’s eyes then this is the movie for you.
Rating for Citizen Kane: *****.
My Son Says:
Citizen Kane was one of the best movies I've ever witnessed. I love Citizen Kane so much. I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good black and white film.
I love several parts of Citizen Kane because, as I'm sure Dad pointed out, are very brilliant. Take the beginning for instance, the castle that Kane lives in only gets bigger never moving or shrinking even though the camera is clearly moving.
Rating for Citizen Kane: *****.
Ok, my husband thinks you might need a good dose of reality here. LOL!! This movie seems long and is extremely boring!!! If you like to think of yourself as a "Movie Lover" and in love with how a film is made and the "art of film making", then by all means watch this one. I however, want to get lost for a few hours. I just want to go places I haven't been with at least one person I wouldn't mind being or at least hanging out with. This is why most of the time, I love Sandra Bullock and Meg Ryan movies. I know these ladies and I could never be friends, but for those few minutes we are together in their films I feel like we are friends. I don't like Kane, his wife, or anyone else in this film. I don't want to be around them, I don't want to be a part of that world. Therefore, I don't like the film. There are enough people in my life to bug me, I don't need to seek more out in the movies I watch. I also suspect the boy only loved the movie, because his daddy watched it with him (alone) before this viewing and went through the "art of film making" with him. It was one of the few one on one moments the two of them shared and I think the time with Daddy meant more than the movie. I hope the love of this movie stays with him for the rest of his life. I hope he watches it often and relives those wonderful moments of feeling special. I just hope he doesn't want me to watch it with him. LOL!!!
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