“Citizen Kane” – Wow

I’m not sure how it happened this way, but I recently watched Citizen Kane for the first time in about 5 years and was in awe of the whole damn thing. I was pretty much transfixed from the first frame to the last. Every 30 minutes or so I had to pause the DVD so I could turn to Jenny and say, “This is incredible!” She said, “I know, it’s awesome. We should be watching this all the time.” (Not an exact quote, but close enough.)

I could always appreciate it for its technical achievements — it’s difficult to find a movie even today that matches the innovation involved in just about every shot in Citizen Kane — but the story didn’t grab me. It grabs me now, though. And there’s not much I can say about it that hasn’t been said before, so I’ll just say, “Wow.” Citizen Kane is a powerhouse. What a great movie.

(The DVD also contains an audio commentary track by Roger Ebert, whose commentaries are exceptional, well-worth checking out.)

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