Citizen Kane is what cinema needed to be taken seriously. An interesting character with perfections and faults, a background mystery, a well-written story, and visual effects that were years ahead of their time. At the beginning of the movie, Kane is shown on his death bed, whispering the word "Rosebud." An investigation ensues where a reporter is tasked with finding the meaning of the name. As an audience, we are given the answer that it is his sled from his childhood, leading us to the knowledge that Kane's last thought was of his family home before he was adopted and taken away to the city to learn to become a businessman. We are shown the harshness and cruelty, the intelligence and friendliness of his character throughout the movie as Kane grows to be a man that will do, say, and buy anything to make (read: force) the people around him love him, but when they can no longer tolerate the constant gifts in exchange for love things fall apart and we are meant to feel either sympathy or pity for him. The use of shadows in a black and white film is for artistic effect and not due to the fact that it was shot in black and white. The shadows are not there as eye pieces, but to point your focus towards the characters, towards their conversations. Citizen Kane could never be remade.

It has been said before, but Citizen Kane is the Citizen Kane of movies.

Meh.

Having watched quite a few films that preceded Citizen Kane, I've always felt that its claims of innovation were questionable. Deep focus cinematography and non-linear flashback storytelling have been done before and I'm glad finally wikipedia has the integrity to point it out, which up until recently they haven't. It doesn't take away its status as a momentous achievement by Welles, being able to merge all those disparate elements of filmmaking into one unified whole and perfecting them is no small feat. But even so, the word is trotted out all too eagerly thus becoming a part of so many misleading blurbs.