Citizen Kane
“Rosebud” These dying words of the title character of then 25-year old Orson Welles’ debut film become the MacGuffin of the story as a reporter (and by extension the audience) tries to figure out what it means. At the end of the story we find out what it is attached to but the audience is left to discern the meaning. I certainly have my opinion but others likely have their own. Citizen Kane was one of the late film critic Roger Ebert’s favorite films. Citizen Kane also appears on a lot of favorite critics list and for years topped the decennial list of Sight and Sound favorite films. I think for these reasons, as well as a reluctance to try to embrace a film that was released in 1941, a lot of modern audience members do not watch Citizen Kane or are quickly disappointed if they do and are not quickly swept up into its rhythms. Film fans should ignore the praise around the film and give it a look and see if it grabs them. While I do not rate it a...