Monday, July 10, 2006

First Time Watching a Classic

It strikes me that something like 8 of my last 15 posts have been film-related. Oh well, I watch a lot of movies. Deal with it.

I saw Citizen Kane tonight, which is regarded by many as one of, if not the, best films ever made.

But I got bored half-way through. Fucking sue me.

It wasn't a bad movie, but it certainly isn't in my top 10 list. Maybe not even in my top 50.

Let's be fair. I liked Orson Welles. Writing, directing, producing, and starring in a film that would later become a beloved classic when he was only 25? And not doing a bad job of it? Very impressive. I also liked the visual effects. Or is it called cinematography? Whatever the fuck, it looked real nice, and they used some techniques that I thought weren't even invented until 30 years later. The makeup jobs were spectacular too, most notably on Kane himself.

I didn't like that the big secret is the single worst kept secret in all of film. To this day, no one will tell you what the twist is in The Sixth Sense, but they'll freely disclose what Rosebud means. Bastards. I also didn't like the Susan Alexander character. When it came time for her flashbacks, I started to get bored, and it didn't help that the actress thought the most effective way to deliver her lines was by screeching like a banshee. Finally, a problem that plagues too many movies: Can we please match the fucking levels on spoken dialogue and music cues? It seriously pisses me off when I have to turn up the volume to hear a conversation, only to have my ear drums blasted ten seconds later by too-loud fucking operatic bullshit.

Final words on Citizen Kane: A classic, sure, but far from being the greatest movie of all time.

1 comment:

Bort said...

Back when AFI released their top 100, I made it a point to watch as many of the movies on that list as I could. (My roommate at the time had seen something like 80 before the list, whilst I floundered in the 60s. By the end, I think I've seen 70ish.)

Citizen Kane is supposed to be the greatest film of all time?

Color me confused. The best movie of all time may be on that list, but it isn't, or shouldn't be, Citizen Kane.

Maybe it was ahead of its time but I don't have a perspective on that.