The beginning of a new era in cinema

Rating: 8/10 (31 July 2003)

First movie for Welles, the man who revolutioned cinema. This movie is praised to such a point that I suspect that many people give it credit out of mere conformism, I mean you sound uneducated in Cinema if you don't praise "Citizen Kane". So you just go with the bunch...
This very interesting work, though, is obviously not a success in filmmaking for anyone who really knows about cinema, and tries to be honest. Nevetheless it's a great premise, and changed the face of cinema for the years to come, because of its mindblowing invention, complexity and artistic values.
"Citizen Kane" opened doors to previously unknown ways of filming.. Visually, without Welle's work, we would probably have lived without the great cinematic visuals of Losey, Gilliam, Kurosawa, Greenaway and some others.
But to rate this movie so high, despite the fact that Welles achieved much better movies with "The Lady from Shangaï", "Le Procès" or "Tragedy of Othello", is a matter of fashion, a snobby cultural phenomenon that is rather funny when you think about it. If you want to be taken seriously when talking about films with "cinephiles", and someone mouths the title "Citizen Kane", you HAVE to go "Aaaaaaahhh" and make a meaningful nod... very funny. Even more funny when you ask those people about "Le Procès" or "Tragedy of Othello", because generally... they don't even know these, or even never heard about them! *LOL*
Well it' still a remarkable work, well worth watching, even with its flaws.