Elevated, by reputation, to heights it never reaches, but nonetheless an excellent picture

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2020)

Despite what so called ''experts'' or critics might tell you, Citizen Kane is not really the greatest movie of all time, as it is many times referred as. It is not the flawless picture that so many people say it is. And it is quite obvious that people who disagree there are of the mind that somehow external over the years evolving influence negates everything (That is somewhat flawed) in the film itself.
Citizen Kane is definitely not the average 40s picture. It starts off without any opening credits, something quite unheard of in movies of that time, and instead just shows the movie's title in illuminating letters, after which one of course gets the iconic opening panning shot towards Xanadu. Despite all its merits, there are obvious flaws notable in the movie, namely during the first half, and especially during the expository introduction sequence of Kane's character. This slideshow with a horribly wooden voice telling us of Kane's past life is like a spoon with irrelevant information maliciously and tediously being put into the audience's mouth. Not to mention the fact that nobody could have actually heard Kane say ''Rosebud'' as there was nobody in the room when he said it.
Furthermore, modern day scenes in which a more or less faceless reporter tries to uncover the meaning behind those words, which were Kane's dying words, are simply devoid of all interest. Director Orson Welles decided to film the shots of the reporter mostly in the shade, and their faces are rarely visible, and when the reporter is speaking to a person of Kane's past, the camera is only fixed on the latter. Admittedly, this is not such a significant flaw, as Citizen Kane's real strengths come from the flashbacks, told quite brilliantly in non linear fashion (Though at some points a character has one of these memories that those characters couldn't possibly have, due to them not being there, but that's kind of a nitpicking flaw). Welles wants to somewhat dehumanize the reporting angle by the obvious lack of lighting, and seems to want to focus solely on Kane.
Of course, technically speaking, Citizen Kane is a piece of brilliance. It utilizes incredibly lighting in particular, and has a sort of direction that was also quite unheard of during this time (The close up of Kane's mother standing at the window and panning backwards to change to a mid-shot in a single frame, for example). It is easy to spot the influence of a lot of later works in these kind of techniques, evident also in camera positioning & blocking (The many shots of a character in the foreground, middle & background, creating the most dynamic of pictures & frames, adapted famously later on by Kurosawa as a trademark ). And there is thus little doubt of Citizen Kane's status as a piece of technical brilliance.
The acting by Orson Welles is superb, and he pretty much outshines all opposition with ease in this picture. Of course, it also helps that Kane is the only real in-depth character of the bunch, as every other character is only there to enhance Kane's state of mind. It is fascinating to watch this flawed person descend into despair due to his inability to love anything other than himself, and his character arc is indeed quite superb, as is the aging process (Keep in mind, Welles who plays Kane was only 26 in this picture) that occurs during the many years that pass by. One could say it is a slight flaw that none of the other characters really have their own goals or their own inner conflicts like Kane, but as they contribute significantly to Kane's character arc, this in comparison seems like a minor issue.
The non linear storytelling, as stated before, is superbly written in, although the things only really get under way when Welles is onscreen. It is structured like the perfect mystery in this sense, as the audience slowly get to the truth behind the final utterances of Kane, that truth which will hold the key to the cause of the conflict within Kane.
Though it makes use of a horribly obligatory wooden newsreel exposition opening, and though it is not without its logical flaws, Welles chews up the scenery, and the technicalities speak for themselves. It is not as great as it is many times hailed as, this status being purely the result of its everlasting influence, but it is still as a stand alone film a superb picture, a picture of man at his most imperfect form, destroying one's self from within.