Directed by Orson Welles
Released in 1941
Written by Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz
Cinematography by Gregg Toland
Language: English
When I watched Citizen Kane for the first time this year, I had this weird desire to come out of my viewing appreciating it, but not loving it. I imagined that I could recognize its greatness, but refuse to be bowled over the by the force of the canon. And yet, here I am at the end of the year picking Citizen Kane as my favorite film of 2024. It's strange to love something so canonical, something that has become canonical not just for its innovative filmic techniques and narrative power, but for its portrait of 19th and 20th century American capitalism. Its depiction of the faliure of American liberalism against the reality of capitalism feels dishearteningly contemporary. Every American election remains a twisted popularity contest, done for the glory of valorizing capital, soaked in blood, masquerading morality. I don't have much else to say about it right now. (December 30, 2024)