This film, which has been more than 70 years ago, may not be perfect or even outdated to watch now, but it created a new film style at the time.
The whole movie runs through the life of the newspaper tycoon Kane, who is a contradictory and controversial character.
Every picture in the whole film has been carefully considered. The bold composition, the ingenious turn of the light, the dazzling lens and all kinds of fantastic angle designs, the director has stacked these things just right, especially for the light. It’s amazing, it’s wonderful, from being bright during adolescence to getting darker from middle-age to old age. The strong contrast highlights the extreme changes in the character's personality. Kane's palace is also surrounded by darkness, and the overall atmosphere is gloomy and gloomy, with a smell of corruption. High-contrast lighting is also used in close-up shots of characters, reflecting Kane's two personalities, and the symbol and herald of lighting are used many times in the film. The wide-angle lens in the film is used in the large scene to emphasize the estrangement between people, while also allowing the audience to understand the clues of the story development at a glance, with a slightly darker style.
There are many long-range shots in this film, the depth of field composition, the lens is extremely dynamic, the character characteristics of the characters are fully displayed with the help of the lens, even the long shots are fluent and dynamic, and the alienation and closeness created by people deliberately It is the product of playing under the camera, and the director is also good at using the camera to create a sense of mystery. The background is exquisite and all hints at the direction of the characters and the plot. In 1941, the director already had the concept of playing time. The editing was not routine, and there were multiple flashbacks, but the plot was coherent, which could drive the audience to invest.
Wells played this fifty-year-old legendary character flawlessly and convincingly. The movie opens with Kane’s death. On his deathbed, Kane holds a crystal ball with a shrunken snow scene. In fact, the movie itself also has it. The appearance of the snow scene seems to imply some potential connection between the audience. Kane completely died after saying "Rose Bud", which also gave the audience curiosity to search for the true meaning of this sentence.
The whole story develops compactly and profoundly, and Kane’s life's contradictory irony is also worthy of deep consideration. The theme of this film is too complicated, and the maliciousness of power and money has always been regarded as one-sided meaning, such as humanity, morality, love, death, corruption, etc. Wait, and Kane’s childhood favorite "Rose Bud" can also be connected with the lost innocence. This is probably what the director wants to express the most.
Fame and fortune Kane has lost his childhood dreams. The fragmentation of the reality and the illusory situation destroyed the former Kane. After the mystery was revealed, it gave the audience emotional thoughts and heavy blows.
I have seen someone describe Wells as a film poet. The fascinating style of his style lies in the gorgeous pictures, dazzling push-mirror, rich voice, kaleidoscope-like editing, broken narrative and complex symbolic matrix. The bold technology is refreshing. This multi-identity man who has taken the lead in the production, scriptwriters and castings and directors is embarrassing.
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