ipl-logo

Citizen Kane Film Review

789 Words4 Pages

Mystery of a Lifetime (Film review on Citizen Kane by Orson Welles) Our life is full of mysteries; we arrived in this world with unsure purpose. Death comes in our life in its most untimely visit. A story about being told to answer a subtlety death of a well-known English man is now claimed as one of the greatest films in cinema history. Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane set the bars in how to create an appealing and innovating storytelling that in this modern time is still recognized. Played as Charles Foster Kane, himself, Welles, unexpected fame brought breakthrough in the film history and student filmmakers of many generations had the chance to study this one-of-a-kind film. Released on 1941, Welles’ youthful attributes contributed to enthusiastic …show more content…

There’s also an addition to the depth on how these parts were presented. With the beginning of film with newsreel obituary clips that summarizes the life and era of Charles Foster Kane; this footage, with its impending narration, provides a map of Kane's life flight, and it keeps the screenplay detail-oriented as it skips around in time, combining together the memories of those who knew Kane. We could assume that “Rosebud” is can be a symbol for protection, hope and innocence of childhood, as what Kane viewed his child days. In which this factor will force a man to spend his life seeking to regain. It is Kane’s yearning after a suppressive restlessness life of manhood. Thompson, himself assumes that “Rosebud” maybe is something that Kane wanted to have or he …show more content…

Despite of these paradoxes, its surface is as much interesting and entertaining as any movie ever made. The depths in the story go beyond comprehension. The more clearly the physical manifestation of the film presented, the more the audience moved by its mystery. We can say that it is one of the legacies of cinema that in 1941 a first-time director worked with an innovative cinematographer, Gregg Toland in this case, and a group of New York stage and radio actors were given a chance to make a masterpiece—Citizen Kane is beyond greatness of any movie could be; it is a collection of all the element from the rise of sound era, just how “Birth of a Nation” assembled every elements at the peak of the silent era, and pointed the way beyond narrative. These innovations stand above all the

Show More
Related
502 Words | 3 Pages

In the film, Citizen Kane, the director put a lot of intention into what was being shown. It may not have been obvious on the surface, but once you look more in depth you see that everything the director did had meaning and a purpose. One thing the director, Orson Welles, did to bring more depth to the film is incorporating the use of motifs. Motifs are repeated narrative elements that support the theme or idea of the story. They can be seen through sounds, objects, costumes, the lighting, and even the camera angles.

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

The Film Citizen Kane was a groundbreaking film in the 1940’s, the way Orson Wells depicts his film with different lighting, cinematography, choice of camera shots and mise-en-scene throughout this movie truly showed the masterpiece that this film is. In the Film Citizen Kane, it was the first movie that went against true Hollywood cinema by introducing flashbacks throughout the movie to show us how Charles Foster Kane changes throughout the movie. Throughout this movie the audience can see how Charles Foster Kane undergoes a variety of physical and emotional changes from when he was just a young boy all the way until his unfortunate death. Power, that’s all that Kane wanted in the start of the film. In the beginning of the film Kane gets ownership of the struggling New York Daily Inquirer, Kane suggests that he wanted to use journalism to apply to the public and protect the interest of ordinary people.

Read More
389 Words | 2 Pages

There are many things that make “Citizen Kane” considered as possibly one of the greatest films every made; to the eyes of the passive audience this film may not seem the most amazing, most people being accustomed to the classical Hollywood style, but to the audience with an eye for the complex, “Citizen Kane” breaks the traditional Hollywood mold and forges its own path for the better. Exposition is one of the most key features of a film, it’s meant introduce important characters and give the audience relevant details and and dutifully suppress knowledge in turn. “Citizen Kane” does not follow this Classic Hollywood style exposition, instead going above and beyond to open the film with revealing as little information as possible and confuse/intrigue

Read More
1062 Words | 5 Pages

Well Ginny and Rose discuss what actually happened with their father Rose says, “On the surface, I thought it was okay, that it must be okay if he said it was, since he was the rule maker. He didn’t rape me, Ginny. He seduced me” (Smiley 190). When Rose says “On the surface, I thought I was okay” it highlights the change when she dives deeper into the truth. Ginny and Rose were raped by their father after their mother passed away.

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

Citizen Kane by Orson Welles is a cinematic classic, released in 1941. Citizen Kane challenged traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema. Kane was narrated by several people that include their take on Kane’s life. The story unfolds by many flashbacks and is told by different perspectives over the years through different narrations. Charles Foster Kane was a millionaire, head of newspapers and died saying “rosebud”.

Read More
156 Words | 1 Pages

While there have been many discussions as to whether “Citizen Kane” is the ‘greatest film ever made’ countless people have agree it is. The reason being that “Citizen Kane” was very new for its time for both the filming/ sound techniques used as well as the non- chronological story progression. When filming Orson Welles used a mixture of deep focus, low-angle shots, overlapping dialogue, and so much more. While it can be argued whether or not Welles came up with all of these techniques, it is agreed on that these were very advanced for the time; having never been done or done together. In the film “Citizen Kane” flashbacks were used, and while they were used in previous film, they was never used as much as they were in this film.

Read More
1366 Words | 6 Pages

(Citizen Kane, 1941) Kane’s parents used the power of money as an accessory for giving him away to a billionaire. Since that day, the protagonist went through a traumatizing experience, insecurity and redisposition due to his parents’ actions, which marked the beginning of his tortuous need, to be loved. This unreturned love created a sense of fear and mistrust to love something or someone, only to experience abandonment again was something Kane never got a chance to learn. Citizen Kane broke all the rules because of Welles, there were no

Read More
3780 Words | 16 Pages

The concentration is on comparing and finding the changes that history made to this movie genre, especially considering the gender roles. Results will clearly explain the psyche of society in two different periods, which confirms that people reflect the movies as movies have an impact on people. The Introduction It is often said that the element of surprise makes the movie more interesting and leads the plot. There are many masters of storytelling

Read More
510 Words | 3 Pages

Citizen Kane challenged the traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema mainly in the area of sound. Orson Welles was ahead of his time when he created his works of manipulating sound to transfer meaning in the film Citizen Kane. Welles used concealed hanging microphones to obtain different levels of sound throughout the film. The manner, in which the story was told, from Kane’s death flashbacked to his life of success and ultimate failure, was also a new style of storytelling for films. Welles also used symbolism with his last mumbling word “Rosebud.”

Read More
1038 Words | 5 Pages

Shot Analysis: Citizen Kane Orson Welles, director of “Citizen Kane”, is well known for his unusual directing methods that defied conventional cinematic techniques. Welles provided his audience with original forms of cinematography, narrative structures, and music. The scene I chose to analyze is extremely important to the plot of the film because Kane begins to realize that he is going through some serious financial problems. During the scene, Kane maintains a sarcastic mood, until he finally decides to surrender and signs the papers that transfer the ownership of his media empire to Mr. Thatcher.

Read More
1571 Words | 7 Pages

Directed by Orson Welles, the 1941 motion picture “Citizen Kane” is the story of the rise and fall of a great, influential man. The opening scenes of “Citizen Kane” are quite different from what follows during the rest of the film. Fading in and out of different landscapes instilled mystery. This mysterious vibe was carried on during Charles Foster Kane’s death through the use of shadows, quiet music, and close up shots. Isolated in his vast empire of a home, Kane uttered only one word before he passed: “rosebud.”

Read More
947 Words | 4 Pages

The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare and 1941 film Citizen Kane possess many similarities in themes and characters, despite the completely different settings and plots. Both main characters are ambitious and determined to achieve a goal, even to a certain point where they lose everything truly meaningful to them. While Macbeth strives to become king of Scotland, Charles Foster Kane attempts to become popular and influential. Both Macbeth and Citizen Kane desire to be powerful members of their respective societies and receive respect and recognition from their acquaintances. In both works, they acquired everything they thought they wanted, yet realised they could not have what they truly desired, essentially ending up with “nothing of value”.

Read More
1441 Words | 6 Pages

In “Aesthetic of Astonishment” essay, Gunning argues how people first saw cinema, and how they are amazed with the moving picture for the first time, and were not only amazed by the technological aspect, but also the experience of how the introduction of movies have changed the way people perceive the reality in a completely different way. Gunning states that “The astonishment derives from a magical metamorphosis rather than a seamless reproduction of reality”(118). He uses the myth of how the sacred audience run out the theater in terror when they first saw the Lumiere Brother Arrival of the train. However, Gunning does not really care how hysterical their reaction is, even saying that he have doubts on what actually happened that day, as for him it the significance lied on the incidence--that is, the triggering of the audience’s reaction and its subsequence results, and not the actual reactions and their extent. It is this incident, due to the confusion of the audience’s cognition caused by new technology, that serves as a significant milestone in film history which triggered in the industry and the fascination with film, which to this day allows cinema to manipulate and

Read More
2098 Words | 9 Pages

In this essay I will be comparing the themes and the narrative techniques used in both films. Starting off with the film “Citizen Kane” as mentioned it is a story of a millionaire, Charles Foster Kane. It begins with Kane’s death and speaks a single word: “Rosebud”. The reporters in the hunt to know

Read More
1005 Words | 5 Pages

Accompanying Charles Kane success, failure, and death the music in “Citizen Kane” is an indispensable factor for its triumph. Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films to ever be produced believe many critics. Well, it is definitely a 1941 American Masterpiece attributed to Orsan Welles. In addition to directing the film, Welles produced, co-wrote, and starred in Citizen Kane. It is praised for its innovation in visual techniques, narrative methods and of course music.

Read More

More about Citizen Kane Film Review

Related Topics

Open Document