The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
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Citizen Kane
Mystery · Drama · 1941
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
Movie details
Citizen Kane
“Some called him a hero...others called him a heel.”
1941 Mystery · Drama 1h 59m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
8.2 / 10
491.5K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
99 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
100 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
8.0 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Citizen Kane?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Orson Welles
Written by
Orson Welles · Herman J. Mankiewicz
Orson Welles
Charles Foster Kane
Joseph Cotten
Jedediah Leland
Dorothy Comingore
Susan Alexander Kane
Ray Collins
Jim W. Gettys
George Coulouris
Walter Parks Thatcher
Agnes Moorehead
Mary Kane
Paul Stewart
Raymond
Court is in session
Put Citizen Kane on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.