Citizen Kane

Orson Welles was a director ahead of his time. His portrayal of Kane shows his acting ability, but this film is not about acting. It is about a powerful man whose downfall creates a reaction unexpected to anyone. It is also about the mystery of one word. But what is it mostly about? Style. Citizen Kane uses camera, lighting, and set techniques to show Kane's rise and fall from power. This fact makes the camera …

…not allowed to be truly free of judgment. Citizen Kane is, for all intents and purposes, an encyclopedia of the cinema. Its flashbacks, its uses of symbolism, its camera moves, its deep focus, its sets ,and its sound track are a virtual catalogue of superb examples of what you can do in a film. No wonder the great French director Francois Tuffaut once said "Everything that matters in cinema since 1940 has been influenced by Kane."