CITIZEN KANE

I have finally seen "the greatest film ever made." And it is excellent. The sad fact is that, having waited so long, too many things that should have been fresh and engrossing were...waited for. Though they were brilliantly used, I anticipated the long-shots/deep-focus effects, thus diminishing their effect. I waited for the scenes in which Kane shrinks beneath windows & into fireplaces, and for those in which he looms like a giant over the camera--destroying a room, or buying a newspaper.

And most unfairly...I knew beforehand what "rosebud" would be, complete with various critical analysis of what it does or doesn't represent.

I hated that.

My favorite moviegoing, or video-watching, experiences have been those where I walked in blind, usually knowing only the title and the stars. And sometimes the genre. This was how I watched ALL ABOUT EVE, SOME LIKE IT HOT, JEAN DE FLORETTE, and many others. I walked away from those movies floored. Floored by the levels of interaction in ALL ABOUT EVE, the relentless wit and completely contemporary appeal of SOME LIKE IT HOT, The depth and breadth of tragedy in JEAN DE FLORETTE.

Walking into a movie with no, or few, preconceptions enables you to grasp it more fully.

So I am dubbing this the CITIZEN KANE SYNDROME or CiKS, for short. That is, "The inability to fully appreciate a movie because either some twit told you too much beforehand, or because, like an idiot, you read too much prior to watching it yourself." CiKS goes a long way towards explaining my lack of fascination with many movies.

I will watch CITIZEN KANE again in the not-too-far-off future, and--no longer wondering when each anticipated bit is going to occur--will be able to relax and enjoy (and evaluate) the film.