Citizen Kane

I guess my biggest reaction to this movie is that it's seriously unconventional and makes me question the fact that humans so thoughtlessly follow a plot line and believe it while watching a movie (I guess that's where suspension of belief comes in). In every movie you try to identify with the main character and draw some sort of connection with your own life, but in this movie it's almost impossible. Like everything in life everyone has their own twist they add into their perception of reality, so how can you really trust everything they say? Maybe Welles was trying to get to this, I'm not sure. I think it's really ironic that the opening scene and the closing scene are the same. That really makes you realize that both you and the reporter have just been running in circles, like a dog chasing it's tale, the entire movie. You don't know Kane any better than you did at the beginning. Sure you get his life history, but you have no idea what is going through his mind at any giving point in time and almost all of the stories contradict the others or just don't make sense in some way (i.e. Kane's mom simply sending him away and him being an advocate of "average Americans"). It's funny though because like a good movie watcher I spent the entire film engrossed in what was going on, trying to thread some continuity into the plot, and just hoping that it would somehow come together, but it obviously never does. I even made connections that ended up not mattering in the long run, I was just hoping that they would.

The way it's shot does a number on your normal movie watching experience too. It's just obvious that a lot can't be real. The deep focus is almost trippy, especially when they're shooting Kane to make him look like a giant. The scene with the reporter in phonebooth is almost uncomfortable, you just want him to get out of there. Also, the scenes where the camera can float through walls, like when they're shooting over the roof and go in through a window, remind you that couldn't possibly be happening. I also like how Cardullo says that the shots are reminders of the fact that Kane is living only in memories, which are happening in a world that isn't real or concrete.

All in all I was dissatisfied with the plot, but I still liked the movie. It intrigued me and still does. It makes me hungry for a deeper meaning, even if you can't find it in Kane, I feel like it's somewhere in the movie, maybe in a "bigger picture" sort of way.