The screening on Monday was perhaps the third or fourth time I'd seen it, and I swear I love it more every showing. A miracle of cinema, Citizen Kane broke all the rules and made great innovations in film form, creating a rich tapestry of meanings and deliberate contradictions that in the end offers, if no answers, a helluva lot of meanings. I thought James Naremore's brought up a lot of awesome points in his analysis, some of which I would never of thought up in a million years (like Jed Leland having a sexual fascination with his "Charlie" or how young Charles Kane's second sled from Thatcher read "Crusader") that enrich my understanding of the movie on both an aesthetic and contemplative level. Certainly movies (and moviegoers) had come a long way since American Fireman.

As any movie buff can tell you, Citizen Kane hardly lacks complexity or ingenuity. There isn't a minute in the film that couldn't provoke discussion, whether one is considering the 'rather heightened' dramatic performances (Naremore), Toland's photography, or the genius at the center of it all: Orsen Welles himself. Yet since I reached my 175 word point a little while ago I think it's safe to include a quote from Roger Ebert that I believe sums up very well the most consistent 'moral of the story':

"There is a master image in ``Citizen Kane'' you might easily miss. The tycoon has overextended himself and is losing control of his empire. After he signs the papers of his surrender, he turns and walks into the back of the shot. Deep focus allows Welles to play a trick of perspective. Behind Kane on the wall is a window that seems to be of average size. But as he walks toward it, we see it is further away and much higher than we thought. Eventually he stands beneath its lower sill, shrunken and diminished. Then as he walks toward us, his stature grows again. A man always seems the same size to himself, because he does not stand where we stand to look at him."