Citizen Kane - Pros and Cons

Hearing everyone's take on Citizen Kane definitely helped me to realize why I liked it. I also realized some things that I didn't like.

First of all, earlier I mentioned that I like the choppiness of the film. I realized that I also like the fast-paced-ness...we basically saw Kane's entire life within a two hour time frame. Grace pointed out a particular scene that I loved - when we saw Kane and his first wife Emily go through what seems like years of meeting for breakfast (umm, dinner?). I thought that that was really neat because it showed the decline of their marriage as well as Kane's transformation into a workaholic of sorts within a few short minutes. I like when things 'get to the point,' so to speak, so that's why I really enjoyed that scene.

A lot of people mentioned that they didn't like Kane's character...especially towards the end of the film. I still can't say how pleased I am with the character development. On one hand, it was interesting to see his decline without a specific reason given. It left me asking "what the heck happened that made him this way?" And sometimes I like when a movie makes me think like that. On the other hand, it kind of irks me that no reason was given for his decline! Like, what was the theme of the film? What was the point?! I think it was Lee that brought this up, and I have to agree with him in a sense. It was also brought up how the movie doesn't really make sense unless the viewer has an understanding of the historical context, and that is a good point. If I didn't have background information than I probably would have hated the film...

During class I realized another thing that I didn't like about Citizen Kane...it was all textuality and no presence. Not once did I feel emotionally moved or drawn to any of the characters. Maybe this is what Welle's intended - especially with his cold portrayal of Kane toward the end of his life. Maybe he didn't want us to have sympathy. Still, I would like to have felt at least some emotional pull. For me, that is (generally) crucial when it comes to whether or not I like a film.

However, I've still got to say that Citizen Kane is a great film. I appreciated it, and I can understand why it continues to be recognized as one of the greatest films of all time. I mean, movie buffs and critics tend to think they're more legit for liking bizarre films, so I'll give them this one!

Citizen Kane

I went into this movie thinking....no, knowing that I would hate it. I didn't think I would be able to even appreciate it, let alone be entertained by it. However, to my surprise, I actually really enjoyed Citizen Kane.

The best word I can think of to describe Citizen Kane is fun. I genuinely enjoyed watching it. The choppiness of the film made it exciting and fascinating. I really appreciated the fact that Welles had no concept of the typical Hollywood film because it made for a very new and thrilling experience. I loved the opening "news flash" (or whatever it was) about Kane's life. It totally threw me off and left me guessing how the rest of the film was going to flow.

My favorite part of the film was definitely the architecture. I've always had some weird obsession with large and elaborate buildings/palaces, and the influx of this in the film really caught my attention from the onset. Xanadu made my eyes happy, to say the least!

Welles did a magnificent job as Kane. His development as a character was especially intriguing to watch. The way he portrayed Kane was so precise that it makes it seem though he didn't trust anyone other than himself to take on the role.

And then there's rosebud. I really didn't think that we were going to find out what rosebud meant, so towards the end of the film I was itching to come home and google the possible meanings!! I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the sled (which was very clever!) but at the same time I was kind of hoping for a little bit of mystery to hold on to.

Overall, I really did enjoy Citizen Kane. I kind of still can't believe it because I was so set on hating it! I guess I must have a good taste in movies after all :)

so what IS film noir?

Film noir was an interesting genre to study because it's one that sort of slips under the radar. What's particularly interesting about it is that it isn't really a genre at all - it's more of a film style. This was especially apparent to me after viewing Blade Runner, which is genre-wise more of a science-fiction. It was also the case with Double Indemnity, which isn't completely a comedy, but it definitely has some components of a comedy film (as did Touch of Evil, now that I think about it).

After watching Double Indemnity, I thought I knew all there was to know about film noir. That film, in my opinion, is the ideal example of a film noir because it is a blatant display of the 'good guy gone bad' because of the 'femme fatale' and their suspensful crime story with twists and turns. But then after watching the other films, I realized that there are actually many more components that go into what makes a film noir. Our discussion in class about 'what is film noir?' was certainly helpful in showing me what is/isn't crucial in a film noir. Whether this agrees with that or not, here is my list of what defines a film noir (listed from most to least important!):

- a dark and shadowy feel (both visually and figuratively)
- suspenseful story (usually crime-related)
- a flawed/imperfect hero
- a femme fatale (she doesn't neccesarily have to have bad intentions, but she may simply be a weakness for the hero)
- dramatic music
- a city setting
- smoking/alcohol consumption
- flashbacks
- narration

This list is clearly much shorter than the one we compiled in class, but I think that these components (especially the first three) are absolutely crucial for a film noir.

Something I've also been thinking about is that film noir generally have a gloomy, almost depressing feel to them. Even the comedies are...dark. And it's almost like everything going on is a secret from the outside world; there's always someone hiding something.

This is just a guess, but I think that maybe film noir came as a reaction to the happy-go-lucky films that preceeded it. People were sick of everything always being perfect and having a happy ending, and this was especially the case after the Depression and WWII took place. Film noir kind of gave an outlet for people to see the corruption in other people's lives.

As I mentioned earlier, film noir was really an interesting (sub)genre to study. Even though film noirs are still being made today, I think that the style still goes very unnoticed! I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open for film noirs from now on!

The Man Who Wasn't There

I watched The Man Who Wasn't There on my own time for our study of film noir. I can't say that I enjoyed it very much, although I did appreciate it. It was definitely a great example of film noir, which is exactly what the Cohen brothers were going for. It was almost humorous because it was like there was a blatant overload of film noir aspects.

First of all, this very recent film was very purposely in black and white. Secondly, there was a good deal of narration throughout the film. There was also the expected shadowy darkness throughout the majority of the film, cigarette smoking, a "suspenseful" plot with many twists, an imperfect lead character, etc. Basically everything we went over in class last night to describe film noir was present in this film! However, I found it to be quite dull and boring. I think that the Cohen brothers were kind of striving for that, so I can appreciate it, but I prefer to have some sort of entertainment when I watch movies!

Billy Bob Thorton did a good job as being the "harmless barber" who got caught in a string of unfortunate events, but there was nothing likeable about his character. I didn't even care when he...well...I don't want to give away the ending! Although I obviously just did...

As I mentioned, I appreciated this film for its use of the film noir style, but I can't say that I found it to be an enjoyable experience. In fact, I'm glad that I got to watch it on my own time so I could "accidentally" miss a few minutes of it while I got food from the kitchen or browsed the internet...

Blade Runner

Loved it! Blade Runner is one of those films I probably wouldn't have seen if it weren't for film class, and I'm so glad that I did. At first I was thinking, how can a science fiction film possibly have a film noir style? But it definitely did. The music, lighting, cigarettes and alcohol - they all pointed to film noir. In fact, I picked up on the style at the very beginning of the film when Deckard was interrogating one of the replicants because interrogations are definitely a charactersitic of film noir.

If it weren't for the film noir style, Blade Runner would probably just be another forgettable science fiction film. Clearly that is something that Ridley Scott tries to avoid (Alien is one of my favorite films...and it is far from forgettable!). The concept of combining science fiction with film noir is so bizarre - I still can't quite figure out how it worked - but it did! Scott definitely took a risk with Blade Runner, and I'm glad he did.

As much as I loved a younger Harrison Ford (was he really 40?!), I'd have to say that my favorite character was Pris, played by Daryl Hannah. She was so creepy yet cute at the same time. The same goes for Roy...why do the bad guys always have to be so darn handsome? He really creeped me out towards the end with the howling and what not. I was pleasantly surpised when he saved Deckard's life. It made me a feel a little less guilty for rooting for him during the fight scene, haha!

Overall, Blade Runner was not only entertaining, but also a great example of an off-beat film noir.