A Triumph of American Cinema

Rating: 10/10 (14 March 2017)

Honestly where does anyone begin to talk about this movie. I suppose you could start with the masterful writing by Director, writer, and lead actor Orson Welles. The craft of nonlinear time in film is a delicate one. Only a handful of today's filmmakers, notably my favorite Quentin Tarantino, consistently pull this off. Welles pioneered this very craft with the way he tells Citizen Kane. We look at Kane's life as a reflection, knowing he is dead and seeing that journalists are now struggling to honor him appropriately as Kane himself was a media tycoon unmatched in his day. Next we can go to Toland's cinematography. Simply put, it is absurd. The things he is able to do with a camera in 1941 are astounding. Most significantly, Kane's ego requires Toland follow his movements with the camera at all times, even when he is off screen. Additionally, Toland pioneers some impressive low key lighting techniques and impressive parallel shots, such as the one of Sarah Alexander being focused in upon from the window above in both daylight and night. The last extraordinarily significant thing about this film is it was the first for many of the movie's actors, including Welles himself. As a Broadway star of the day, Welles attracted a lot of theater talent that helped make this movie all the more memorable and staggering in scope. A must watch for anyone that claims to like movies in America.