"There's only one person that decides what I'm gonna do and that's me"

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 1999)

From a personal viewpoint I would cast my vote for "Rashomon" as the greatest film ever made, but I am more than happy for a procession of critics to hand this picture the ultimate accolade.
There are all the usual things you could claim about what makes this movie so special: innovative direction, ceilings on sets, etc., etc. What always makes me sit up more than anything is Ray Collins breaking the fourth wall near the beginning. Perhaps, like it's director-writer-star, this is more a film you can admire than love. While the film is purported based on William Randolph Hurst (someone I once knew had a theory that the lead character's initials were a subliminal advert for a fast food chain when spelt backwards), it is interesting to note how the obnoxious, domineering, excessive, lonely Kane is played by the allegedly obnoxious, domineering... Orson Welles.
But what makes Citizen Kane an ideal choice for the finest movie is that while embraced by the critical fraternity, it is almost exclusively a mainstream film. The directorial "tricks" are dealt with in an understated manner (though the panning shot under a neon sign and through a skylight was obviously so well savoured it's repeated twice, once in reverse) so that they never distract. Just like any other standard movie of the era, this one has romance, drama and song and dance routines. Okay, so many of these may be shot through with more depth than normal, and the circular, fragmented nature of the plot is not what audiences were expecting. But essentially this is not an esoteric work, but something for the masses. Even the psychology behind Kane - and this is my only real criticism - is overstated, almost spoon-feed where interpretation would do. However, this also fits in perfectly with the production's study of excess, the (now obvious, sadly) matte paintings that make up a huge mansion.
Ultimately, of course, this is a film that is asking questions. Away from the dark vignettes, where men hit women and cheat on their wives, we have the revelation of Rosebud. The film asks the question "what is a man?" and then delivers the perfect resolution. Then the finale gives us the biggest surprise of all - no, not Rosebud, but the roll call of all the actors in the film that had never been in a motion picture before. The shock of seeing a procession of extremely competent actors that had only just made their debut is stunning. Was this really only 1941?