Verdict:
Being just an ignorant peasant, I cannot tell when this movie is failing and when it is just being purposefully stylistic. There are a number of times when a character makes a joke and others start laughing heartily…and it’s not funny at all, and…I think it is meant to be not funny, but then again I am not sure. Other times the movie is quite funny with barely any effort.
The story consists of the biography of Charles Foster Kane, a larger than life character, who achieved much in his life but is torn inside. Multiple perspectives and flashbacks are combined into a cohesive narrative, but is the movie teaching me lessons about life or is it being preachy and pretentious? Perhaps both?
Thematically, Citizen Kane appears to warn the viewer against narcissism but also against wealth and ambition, which is laughable, if that was indeed the point. ‘Being big and important will only bring you misery,’ seems to be the message, which is what the normal people tell themselves to feel better about not having wealth and it is what the creative types tell themselves because they don’t understand how someone can be happy working in Finance. Attacking the rich and influential in movies has become a cliché in itself, and I wish people would get themselves a different coping mechanism.
Actors overact, and it seems they are doing so on purpose, in the style of that time. And yet other times the acting is quite modern and realistic.
Then there is that fake looking old man’s face mask that the main actor wears in the entire second half of the movie. If you think old man makeup looks bad in today’s movies, try a 40s movie. This old man makeup ruins the immersion.
And yet, overall, the visuals are quite good, with the cinematography being hailed as some of the best ever, with Citizen Kane being used as study material for film-students. The effects are noteworthy. There is deep focus, which keeps both the foreground and the background sharp. There is chiaroscuro lighting and low-angle shots. You got matt paintings and miniatures. It feels like the makers really tried to come up with new stuff to show. There are dissolves between shots and camera is flying through things. The film has a dream-like aesthetic, which fits its themes.
The question is: how much of the symbolism and allegory is actually going to get to the mind of an average viewer, who is not a film-student?
Overall, the movie is quite charming and well-acted. I just can’t understand where its brilliance ends and its flaws begin. Citizen Kane is often acknowledged as the best movie of all time but the average viewer is not going to be able to appreciate that deep brilliance, but will still see the obvious flaws.