About this episode In this engaging episode, two seasoned critics delve into the enduring legacy of Citizen Kane, exploring whether it still deserves its status as a masterpiece. Through lively debate and mutual respect, they discuss its groundbreaking filmmaking techniques, storytelling innovations, and cultural impact, offering listeners a balanced perspective. This conversation not only deepens understanding of the film's significance but also encourages viewers to reconsider how classics stand the test of time.
0:00 RKO Pictures had a clause in their contract where they could pay Orson Welles 310,000 dollars to buy back the negative of Citizen Kane and literally burn it.0:11 Just to make it go away.0:12 That's...0:13 intense.0:14 Last week we talked about the enduring reputation of 'The Godfather', but this is different.0:20 Kane's reputation was under full-scale assault before anyone had even seen it.0:26 Exactly.0:26 And that pressure is part of why we're still talking about it.0:31 The question for us today, Admin, is simple: is Citizen Kane still the masterpiece everyone says it is, or is it just the most important film ever made?0:42 And I think that's a crucial distinction.0:45 Because I'll give you important.0:47 I mean, my god, it's the textbook.0:49 But is it a film you'd put on tonight, for pleasure?0:53 One hundred percent.0:54 For me, the innovation isn't just historical trivia—it's what makes the movie SO watchable.1:01 The deep focus cinematography from Gregg Toland...1:04 it's not just a trick.1:06 Uh-huh.1:06 It's storytelling!1:08 You have Kane's mother signing him away in the foreground, his father looking greedy in the mid-ground, and little Charles playing in the snow outside the window.1:19 All in ONE shot.1:20 You, the viewer, decide where to look.1:23 It gives you agency.1:25 I hear you, but—that's what I mean by a textbook.1:28 It's a perfect demonstration of a technique.1:31 But for a modern audience, the pacing can be a real slog.1:35 The whole "News on the March" sequence at the top is a brilliant parody of newsreels, I get it.1:42 But it's also ten minutes of exposition that feels like homework before the movie even starts.1:49 See, I think that's the best part!1:51 It tells you everything and nothing.1:54 It gives you the public version of the man, this grand, empty shell, and the rest of the movie is spent trying to find the ghost in that machine.2:04 It’s a mystery structure.2:06 But is the ghost even there?2:08 That's my problem.2:09 I admire Charles Foster Kane, I'm fascinated by the puzzle of him...2:14 but I don't feel anything for him.2:16 The performances, from the whole Mercury Theatre troupe, are so...2:21 theatrical.2:22 It's operatic, sure, but it feels emotionally distant.2:26 Cold.2:26 Okay, but what if the coldness is the point?2:29 The film is about the ultimate emptiness of a man who has everything and feels nothing.2:35 He's an object.2:37 A collection of things.2:38 We're not supposed to feel empathy for him, we're supposed to feel a kind of horror at his hollowness.2:45 That’s a fair intellectual reading, except a film isn't a dissertation.2:51 It has to connect on a gut level.2:53 And for me, the thing that breaks it is the ending.2:56 It all comes down to "Rosebud." Ahhh, here we go.3:00 I mean, come on.3:01 After this sprawling, epic, complicated life...3:04 the entire psychological key is his childhood sled?3:08 It feels like a cheap Freudian gimmick.3:11 It's too neat.3:12 Whoa, NO.3:13 That's the most misunderstood part of the whole film!3:16 Rosebud is a total misdirection.3:19 The reporter literally says at the end, "I don't think any one word can explain a man's life." The characters NEVER find out what Rosebud is.3:29 Okay...3:29 WE, the audience, are the only ones who see it.3:33 It’s a final, devastating piece of dramatic irony.3:36 It proves the reporter's point!3:38 It’s not the answer; it’s the symbol of the one thing he lost that he could never buy back.3:45 It’s not the key to the puzzle—it’s the knowledge that the puzzle is unsolvable.3:50 Alright, I'll give you that one.3:53 That is a more compelling defense than just "it's his childhood." But still...3:58 the experience of watching it can feel like admiring a perfect, beautiful snow globe from a distance.4:06 I can see the genius in it.4:07 I just can't feel the warmth.4:10 And maybe that's okay.4:11 I mean, I'll concede that the acting style can be a hurdle for people used to modern screen naturalism.4:18 It's definitely A Choice.4:20 And I'll concede that basically every director from the last seventy years has stolen something from this movie.4:28 Its DNA is everywhere.4:30 You can't deny the influence.4:32 So maybe that's the real tension.4:34 We revere it for inventing a cinematic language.4:38 But we might connect more with the films that came later, the ones that just...4:43 spoke that language fluently.4:45 Yeah.4:46 So the question isn't whether Citizen Kane is great.4:49 It's what we're really asking for when we call something a masterpiece.4:54 Is it the revolutionary blueprint, or is it the timeless, emotionally resonant story?
