Maybe it only is generation gap

Rating: 3/10 (9 September 2016)

If your name is Sarah Esther Bonos, please do not watch this film. Ate Sar, listen to me. This may be on the list of the must-see movies of all time but don't bite into it. We have watched so much more worthy films.
Maybe it only is generation gap: people in the Citizen Kane era might be more appreciative of the plot or theme of these kinds of stories but today's generation has a lot more depth to offer. I would like to give Citizen Kane all the glory rendered to it because I am not a film- expert. I am not well versed when it comes to cinematography,stylistics, etc. But today's kinds and types of movies are (or thankfully enough has become) better than Citizen Kane. I hope this do not come across as mockery to this film. It just did not suit my "era," so to speak, and that is all.
When I watch movies, stories make the most impact to me. Story-wise, Citizen Kane is circumloquacious and superficial. The twist is also a 'meh.' When you get to it, you'll ask yourself: 'so that's it?'
We are introduced to a supposedly great man by the name of Charles Foster Kane. Then we are allowed to take a peek of his life from the points of view of those who have come to know him. Finally, the end reveals how Charles Foster Kane's life is really not defined either by his popularity or people's opinion about him. Instead, Charles Foster Kane's life is harnessed in one word - the final words he uttered before he died: Rosebud.
There is a line in the movie that says: "I don't think there's one word that can describe a man's life." But by the end, we are shown how this is an irony. Charles Foster Kane's life is Rosebud - the name of the sleigh he received as first Christmas present away from his parents. He is Rosebud because he was playing with a sleigh on the snowy day when he separated from his parents. He is Rosebud because this sleigh represents his yearning to be with his parents once again. If he grew up with his parents, he would not have longed so hard for someone to love him the way he wanted to. Love would not have been a requirement for him. He would have welcomed it freely. But no, this is not the case for Charlie Kane. He grew up far from his parents. He was sent away. He was unwanted. That is why he has this constant sense of desire to gain people's love. That's basically it.
I just do not think it should have taken two hours for a story like that to be revealed. There are a lot of layers you can create to a story within the span of two hours. All the yada-yada about Charles Kane - his dry greatness, his influence and non-influence in politics, his popularity - they are just fillers to the story. The entire time, the movie is suggestive. Charles Kane is great. Charles Kane is rich. Charles Kane is the man of the masses. Charles Kane is a philanthropist. As an audience, I don't like to be fed with impressions. If the character is great, let me recognize it myself. Don't put it to my face.
In the beginning of the film, I was "told" that Charles Kane is an interesting character. But as I have discovered afterwards, he is not. He is dry. He is unintelligible. He is not charismatic at all. He is an old-school confused fraud. That is how he appealed to me.
In addition and as a final note to this review, I would like to mention that the musical score is bad. There were several moments in the movie that I had to lower down the volume of my laptop because of this loud annoying musical score whenever Kane is about to be introduced. I don't know, maybe I really am stupid because I do not get it at all. But Citizen Kane is frankly ordinary to me. We have made several worthier and weightier movies; and I am glad that we continue to make more. A look in the past is not bad when it gives you hope for the future.