I was informed by Dr. Clark that this film, Citizen Kane, was considered the best film America has to offer. Sure I was excited to find out what the big deal was after hearing this. I thought this movie will be something like the Godfather, a film without much 'action' scenes but focusing more on dialogue and the cinematography of the movie. However, I was deeply disappointed in Citizen Kane as I felt it was focusing too much on the cinematography of the film rather then the content.
This became evident at the very beginning when there were a lot of flashbacks of Kane himself; however, the exchanges in dialogue throughout these scenes were just plain boring and the actors had this pretentious and unnatural accents. The content of the film was basically focusing on Mr. Kane's high and low moments in his life. There was this obsession about him that if he didn't get what he wanted, there would be a cost for his friendships he had. It was rather predictable and nothing new that I've observed and learnt. When Kane's wife left him, I would usually feel a sense of hopelessness at this point, however, in this film I barely even felt any emotion whatsoever! This shows that the director has failed to capture the spirit of the audience and their emotion.
I like how you put judged the film from your standpoint of "a good film". I too was disappointed by Citizen Kane, and agree that the story was quite boring.
ReplyDeleteHowever, your last sentence doesn't make sense. "This shows that the director has failed to capture the spirit of the audience and their emotion." How does the director capture the spirit of the audience? I don't think he can direct a film about the spirit of the audience, when the film is already done and released and the audience watch it later.
"This shows that the director has failed to capture the spirit of the audience and their emotion."
ReplyDeleteI am sure Welles is not a kidnapper or some kind of spirit-catcher so I assume you mean something along the lines of "grabbing the audience's feeling".
Remember the year it was made. People's 21st century brain tuned to the "vocals" of Lady Gaga are of course rarely have the same, or at least similar, emotions.
That said, I can see your indifference towards the film. It is rational to argue that Welles did go for more cinematography over content and that may be disorienting to today's viewers.
So it is indeed a pity today's generation are not affectionate people.
I find it contradictory that you said The Godfather, which you implied is good on your standards, is good because of Cinematography, but you said Citizen Kane focused too much on it. However, i get that you didn't enjoy the film because it didn't live up to 21st century standards.I LIKKKEEE!!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I like the title, James. I agree with you, but think you could use specific examples to back up what you are saying. When you say that it is predictable, you should consider the fact that it was the first of its kind, and that maybe because so many films followed in its footsteps is why is so predictable,
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