Worthy of the praise, but best film ever? (hard to say)

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2010)

The thing about true brilliance is that it does not come instantly. In the same way that Van Gosh was not considered an artist till after he died, I would imagine it took a few years for the academy to even consider the possibility that giving the gold to How Green was My Valley (over Kane) was a mistake. Today there is no question. Some would argue that there is also no question that it is the best movie ever, I don't fully agree. I do like it a lot though.
Citizen Kane is loosely based on the life of newspaper king William Hearst. And chronicles his life from boyhood to the grave. The film moves at a leisurely pace, never to slow or too quick and while it is not the most cathartic of movies Citizen Kane has much to say. To me, the film is driven primarily by Welles' performance. If you want something done well, you gotta do it yourself, and Welles knew that.
The reason for the studio's dislike of Welles was because of his control freak attitude, but it results in some interesting decisions. One of which is the total absence of stars or names in the cast, definitely a positive. It keeps us focused on the story and not the stage or cinematic presence of popularity. What's more, Citizen Kane is the first feature for most of the cast.
There are actually a number of moments which I can point to and say, 'this is not featured in any other movie of the time'. Citizen Kane has several tracking shots in which the camera literally goes through pieces of furniture and other solid matter. Now, I'm a smart guy, and I'm studying film production, but it wasn't until I heard Roger Ebert's commentary that I realized how these shots were achieved. I never would have guessed Even the title sequence is great, because it is subtle. When we see sixty or seventy year old movies, we are used to seeing title card credits, with loud blaring fanfare. That doesn't happen here. Citizen Kane absorbs us with its ambiance from moment #1, in addition to word #1, ROSEBUD.
Throughout the movie, Kane ages pretty well, which shows skill on the part of the make-up job, the movie however has aged even better. Soem reasons are obvious, but others may not be. Perhaps this is what makes Citizen Kane so special from a 21st century perspective. This controversially is more epic than any other movie.
Watch it and decide for yourselves,