Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is a film about a man, Charles Foster Kane, which recounts his life, his loves and the empire that he created for himself that gave him the title of being the quite possibly most successful man in America, maybe even in the entire world. Kane's story is told in full through a newsreel at the beginning of the film, highlighting his accomplishments that essentially led to his eventual demise. The film then goes onto to delve into Kane's life in detail, through flashbacks told in the point-of-view of the most important people in Kane's life (Thatcher, Kane's guardian growing up; Bernstein, Kane's friend and business manager; Jedediah Leland, Kane's best friend; Susan Alexander, Kane's mistress and eventual second wife; and his caretaker) to a reporter searching for the meaning of Kane's dying word, "Rosebud". The viewer is given a point-of-view that allows a deep look into the core of Charles Foster Kane, and left wondering what is the real measure of a man's life once he's dead.

Citizen Kane has been hailed as "the greatest film ever made" by many film critics and scholars. Critics have stated that "Citizen Kane is the biggest cinematic landmark since pictures first started moving" and "With its spirit of visual and narrative innovation, and Welles's precocious towering central performance, Citizen Kane almost lives up to its reputation as the best of all time" (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/citizen_kane/). I don't know if I would agree that it is the greatest movie of all time, solely because of the fact that I am not a film scholar and have only started to critically and analytically view films beginning with this class. I don't have classic Holllywood films to compare Citizen Kane to in the areas of style, narrative, composition, etc. nor do I have the critical eye to determine what "the greatest film ever made" would look like. But watching this film, I felt so connected to Charles Foster Kane and could empathize with the struggles that he endured throughout in his life. I don't think that he ever knew the real meaning of what it is to love and be loved, because his father abused him as a child which led to his mother giving him away to be raised by Thatcher. Not being raised in a healthy environment and never being taught the true meaning of life, Kane sought to gain love and success through his fotune. His idea of the American dream was to have wealth and success, and throughout the film, we see Kane trying to maintain that ideal at all costs. He didn't want what he couldn't control and he controlled everything that came into his life: the newspaper, Jedediah, both Emily and Susan, and set out to control politics by running for govenor. Kane filled his life with material possessions bought with his wealth and people that he thought he could control in order to atttain happiness and success. The narrative of the film illustrates this in quite a unique way, through the perspectives of others in his life whom he tried to control and ended up pushing away. These flasbacks, along with the newsreel at the very beginning of the film, foreshadow Kane's eventual demise in a powerful way. Kane's breakdown leading up to his death occurs right after Susan tells him that she is leaving him, and leaves Xanadu. We see Kane tear apart her room, symbolizing him breaking through the facade that he has created for himself that has led him to be incapable of love and caused him to end up alone. He walks out of the room, to all of his staff just watching him and we see a singular "K" charm hanging out the front of his suit. His name, his wealth and success are all that he has left for himself. They have defined his life and now that he is alone, he realized that this is not the life that he wanted and he is forced to come to terms with his true inner self. To him, this was no longer the American dream that he had worked so hard for. He lost two loves, his best friend and everyone else that was close to him in life because he was so incapable of loving anything other than his money and himself.

Citizen Kane displays an emotional depth that I don't think I've witnessed before in any other film. The narrative perfectly illustrates the hardships in life, the heartache of love and loss and that wealth and success mean little without knowing how to love and be loved. I was moved by the ending and the room surrounded with millions of dollars of possessions that never made Charles Foster Kane as happy as Emily and Susan once made him. I can most definitely understand why this film is considered by many to be "the greatest film ever made", and never will I forget the story of Citizen Kane.

Definition of Film Noir

After watching four films that were characterized as film noir, I have come to see film noir as a spectrum filled with different genre conventions that represents that time in which the film was made and the story that the narrative is trying to portray. I don't believe that a film has to fit a certain number of criteria in order to be classified as a film noir. Rather, I believe that if a film has some attributes of a conventional film noir, was made during the film noir period and gives off a tone of suspense and tension that the theme of the chase  brings out within the narrative, then it fits what I consider to be a film noir fit.

In The Maltese Falcon, fits into the first phase of film noir with the genre conventions in line with the theme of the "private eye and the lone wolf" (Schrader). Sam is the private detective who is working on his own, with his partner who is killed early on in the film, and is enlisted by various parties to help find the falcon. Many of the film noir genre conventions are present: the femme fatale Bridget, the strong male hero, the foreigner, etc. But there is also a lot to say about the stylistic aspects of The Maltese Falcon that add to the tone of suspense and mystery that builds throughout the narrative. The music that play when there is a cut from one scene to the next adds a sense of mysterious and lends itself to foreshaowing what will happen next in the film. Many different people come into Sam's life, trying to threaten him into finding the falcon and giving it to them first. The viewer is continuously wondering what is going to happen to Sam: if he'll find the falcon in time, if the police are going to arrest him, how much danger he's in, what Bridget is hiding. All of these different aspects, along with the lighting and sense of moral ambiguity, build the suspense and mystery until the very end of the film.

Touch of Evil is unique within the film noir genre, in that it doesn't fit into any of the three phases of the film noir period. It has some of the genre conventions of a typical film noir (Mike Vargas as the male hero, Susie as somewhat of a femme fatale) but it was less predictable than the film noir's that came before it. Although Touch of Evil doesns't fit into a category within the film noir period, it does have stylistic aspects that contribute to the suspense and mystery that I believe is typical of all the film noirs we've seen in this class. There is the presence of darkness and the use of lighting that adds to the suspense of the narrative. Especially when Vargas gets attacked in the alley, the genre convention of alleys or docks is at play. There is the presence of the Grande family throughout the film, who seem to be following Vargas' wife Susie. Their presence adds to the suspense and mystery of the film, because we as the viewer don't know what they want or what they are going to be to Susie. There is also an overwhelming presence of the theme of moral ambiguity within the narrative. We can see the actions of most of the characters in the film, and how they are struggling with the nature of right and wrong which makes us wonder when everyone else is going to find out the truth.

Chinatown seemingly does not fit into any of the three film noir period, but most definintely contains genre conventions that make it a film noir. I would say that it would loosely fall into the first phase that contained the theme of the private eye and the lone wolf. Gittes spends most of the movie on his own, trying to figure out who killed Mulwray and who is dumping water. Mulwray's wife is the quintessential femme fatale, who is surrounded by mystery after her husband's death. There are many aspects of film noir that also add to the suspense and the mystery within the narrative. The suspense was created more by the narrative, and how the characters interacted with one another. Especially in the relationship between Mrs. Mulwray and Gittes, there was a great deal of mystery and tension because she had something to hide which wasn't discovered until the end of the movie. Every character in this film seemed like they had something to hide, and that no one was exactly who they said they were. Because of this, I as the viewer was left in suspense until the very end of the film, and was quite suprised at the resolultion.

Finally, Gilda is considered to be a part of the first phase of film noir. I found this movie to be very similar to Casablanca while watching it. Both movies revolve around a love triangle, and the gambling/casino atmosphere. There were quite a few genre conventions that I noticed in Gilda. Gilda definintely seemed to portray the femme fatale, who was torn between money and passion. There was the presence of evil within the lives of both Johnny and Mundson and that something about their business seemed suspicious. There is a great deal of suspense that is incorporated into the film because we as the viewer see that Gilda and Johnny have met before, and still have feelings for each other but now that Gilda is married to Mundson, we are left to wonder how long their history will go unnoticed,

Overall, I believe that film noir comes in many different forms and there isn't one umbrella definition for what a conventional film noir is. There are films today that could fit the definintion that I have constructed, but weren't made during the time that film noir was present in American cinema. But I think that this is a topic that is subjective, and it is up to the viewer to determine what is and isn't considered to be a film noir.

Gilda

Gilda is a classic film about a man named Johnny Farrell, a gambler trying to make it big in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He meets a mysterious man who rescues him from getting robbed, and points him towards a nearby casino where he can showcase his skills of talented deceit. Johnny arrives at the casino, and is caught cheating by the casino owner who ends up being the man that saved him from being robbed, Ballin Mundson. Mundson sees something in Johnny, and recruits him to be his right hand man. The two men become inseparable, with Johnny gaining more and more responsibility as he continues to gain Mundson's trust, with Johnny eventually put in charge of the casino while Mundson is away. But the plot grows complicated after Mundson comes back, surprisingly with a new wife. This woman, Gilda, seems to have a mysterious air about her and something about her doesn't sit right with Johnny. The film goes on to uncover Gilda's mysterious past, and how her presence is now changing the relationship between Mundson and Johnnny.

I honestly liked this film, probably because it wasn't in the same film noir sub-group as The Maltese Falcon and Touch of Evil. There weren't many of the typical genre conventions of film noir within the plot of this film, other than Gilda as the femme fatale and the presence of money and the police, and the motif of the tortured, troubled relationship which adds to the buildup of suspense throughout the narrative. I thought that Gilda played the femme fatale quite well, and was more believable than any of the other female characters in the other examples of film noir that we've seen. Overall, I thought that Gilda wasn't the typical film noir pick but other than its long-winded plot, it was an enjoyable film to watch.

Chinatown

*SPOILER ALERT*

 

 Chinatown is a cleverly written and developed film-noir narrative about a private detective, J.J. Gittes who is hired by quite a few individuals to investigate events that have transpired in result of a dispute over the building of a dam in the Los Angeles area which would relieve the city and the surrounding areas from the drought that they are stuck in. Gittes meets a woman who claims to be Evelyn Mulwray, and hires him to follow her husband, Hollis Mulwray (the chief engineer for the Department of Water and Power) because she suspects him of having an affair. When Gittes begins to follow him, he discovers that Hollis has been visiting many reservoirs and dams in the middle of the night and they both discover that someone is responsible for dumping water into the ocean in the middle of the night even though the city is in the midst of a drought. After they both make this discovery and photos are printed of Hollis with a mystery woman, another woman comes to see Gittes and reveals to him that she is Mulwray's wife and that the woman who hired Gittes is an imposter. The real Mrs. Mulwray sues Gittens, but Gittens is determined to find out who really hired him to follow Hollis Mulwray. Gittes goes looking for Mulwray one afternoon at a nearby reservoir and finds the police there because Hollis has been discovered there dead. Gittes makes it his mission to find out who is responsible for dumping the water, who killed Hollis and who originally hired him in the first place. Gittes realizes that he is in the midst of a very dangerous investigation, and that everyone involved has secrets that they aren't willing to reveal and that no one is who they say they really are.

I really liked Chinatown, more than I thought I was going to after my reactions to the first two film-noirs that we watched. I thought that it was very well written and constructed, and although many of the genre conventions of film-noir were present throughout the narrative I was still kept guessing and held in suspense until the very end of the film. Yes, I could easily predict that the femme fatale, Mrs. Mulwray, was going to end up getting "involved" with the hero, Gittes. But I thought that the narrative flowed really well, and that humor, suspense, romance, and danger were all balanced in a way that made the film enjoyable to watch. I didn't want to fall asleep, and I was kept guessing until the end so for me this film was a good one.

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil is a film about a newly married couple, Susie and Mike Vargas, who are spending their honeymoon battling gang related crime while straddling the Mexico/U.S. border. Mike is a drug enforcement official, working for the Mexican government who is investigating the aftermath of a car explosion on the U.S. side of the border. Investigating alongside U.S. officials, Vargas realizes that something is not right out this investigation. A possible witness is charged with the murder of the couple inside the car when evidence is found inside a box in his bathroom, which Vargas had just knocked over and found nothing. His goal changes from finding who was responsible for the car bombing to who was responsible for planting the evidence to implicate this seemingly innocent man. Vargas’ wife Susie, has been patiently waiting by her husband’s side throughout this entire investigation. She gets lured to a hotel where she comes into contact with the Grande family, a gang who her husband is working to charge with illegal drug related activities. She is moved to another hotel in the middle of nowhere, only to again be apprehended by the Grande family and drugged, later to be accused of the murder of one of the U.S. officials. The rest of the film centers on Vargas and his ally within the U.S. government, Menzies, trying to find out who framed Susie and planted the evidence, and who is really responsible for all the violence and death that has taken place.

This film was distinctively a more unique representation of film noir. A lot of the typical genre conventions that are part of most film noir films were more difficult to define in Touch of Evil. There is the ever-present use of lighting to create the presence of good and evil, and to amplify the suspense of the narrative. The setting also played a big part in the creation of suspense within the narrative: Vargas getting acid thrown on him while in a dark alley, vacant hotels in the middle of nowhere, the emptiness of the town, everything portrayed to be dirty and run down. The structure and progression of the narrative was somewhat difficult to predict, and wasn’t as easy to identify and follow along with in comparison to other film noir’s. The character representations were also difficult to define. I thought it the beginning that Susie was going to be the heroine or the damsel in distress but it seemed like throughout the narrative, she was able to be identified as both. The protagonist and the antagonist were also not as easy to define. I thought that the police captain, Quinlan was going to be the hero of the narrative and it turned out that he was the exact opposite. Vargas was also not the only hero figure in the film, considering he had considerable help from Menzies in taking down Quinlan. Overall, I thought that this was a well made film and although I was completely confused at points I think that I would be able to appreciate Orson Welles’s narrative perspective more the second time around.

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is a film about a private detective named Sam who comes into contact with various individuals who want to enlist his help in order to find a jeweled falcon. Sam meets a beautiful woman who is searching for her missing sister, whom she thinks is involved with a man who is trying to hurt her. Sam helps her by sending his partner to follow the man, only to get news that both his partner and the man have been killed. Sam later finds out that the woman is not who she says she is, and that she is using him to get to the falcon. Sam is also approached by another man by the name of Cairo, who is willing to pay him $5000 to find the falcon for him. Sam finds out that he is being followed, and is taken at gunpoint to a man named Gutman who reveals to Sam the significance of the falcon and offers him $25,000 for it with the promise of some of the profit. The rest of the film centers around Sam trying to find the falcon, and sorting through the lies and the danger that is attached to it.

I thought that this was a pretty good movie. I thought that some parts were corny and unbelievable, like the "suspenseful" music that played during the change of scenes and the fact that Sam could take the guns away from just about anyone who was after him. There wasn't much physical action but instead, the action was provided through the dialogue and the interpersonal interactions throughout the film. It was slow at some points, and I think that they could have constructed the narrative in a way that gave more suspense and danger to the task of finding the falcon but overall I thought it was a good movie. I mean who couldn't like a movie with Humphrey Bogart playing the dapper hero detective!

Another look...The narrative styles of Casablanca, Daughters of the Dust, and Monsoon Wedding

After watching Casablanca, Daughters of the Dust and Monsoon Wedding, along with reading about the significance of film narrative, I can identify the differences between, and the deviations from, classical and alternative film narrative within these three films. Specifically, I am going to focus on the importance of the characters and the plot structure within these three films, and how they differ in terms of focus, importance, and construction within the classical narrative and the alternative narrative.

Casablanca is very much the perfect example of a film with a classical narrative. In terms of the emphasis and the development of the characters within the film, classical narrative "centers on one or more central characters who propel the plot with a cause-and-effect logic (whereby an action generates a reaction)" (Corrigan and White 2009). In Casablanca, Rick is the main character around whom the plot forms, and most of the story is told through his perspective (through an omniscient narration). Ilsa and Victor are introducted about a quarter of the way through the film and the narractive centers around the entaglement that these three are caught up in. There are other characters, like the piano player who knew Ilsa back in Paris and the German officials who are trying to keep Victor from leaving Casablanca, but they don't serve as any purpose other than supporting the actions of the three main characters. The cause-and-effect logic of the classical narrative is also evident within the film as well. As we find out more about the history that exists between Rick and Ilsa, that cause-and-effect logic becomes more evident. If Rick leaves Casablanca wth Ilsa to start a new life with her, she will have to leave Victor and always wonder if she should have stayed. But if Rick gives the exit visas to Victor and Ilsa, he will have to deal with losing Ilsa for a second time and never being able to see her again. The narrative resolves itself in a way that you can understand why Rick made the decision he did, and feel a sense of hope for Victor and Ilsa now that they are finally escaping Europe and getting the chance to make a new life in America.

The presentation and development of the characters within both Daughters of the Dust and Monsoon Wedding is far different from Casablanca, and aligns with the alternative film narrative. These films fit within the alternative narrative because, "Freed of the determining motivations of classical characters, the plots of alternative film narratives tend to break apart, omit links in a cause-and-effet logic, or proliferate plot lines well beyond the classical parallel plot" (Corrigan and White 2009).

In Daughters of the Dust, the film is narrated through the first-person by Eula and Eli's unborn daughter. The narrative focuses of the Peazant family, but there are many characters present within the narrative, and many different subplots taking place as well. The events within the narrative seem scattered and randomly placed, with no real relation to one another, other then to the apprehension regarding the looming move from Sea Island to the mainland. I found that because the narrative was unconventional and not linear like the classical narrative, I couldn't focus on what was going on during the film and didn't really come away with any feelings of resolution at the conclusion of the film. I felt as though a lot of the dialogues, perspectives and the significance of interactions between the characters were unclear to me, and that the narrative would have been more easily comprehended if I had more knowledge of the context that it was taking place in.

On the other hand, Monsoon Wedding also follows the alternative film narrative but also seemed to have some aspects of the classical narrative integrated within the film as well. The narrative focused on the importance of many different characters within the Verma family, and the many subplots present within the narrative were important to the development of the plot and in reaching a resolution at the conclusion of the film.While there was no real cause-and-effect logic within the narrative, I felt a sense of resolution at the end of the film: when the bride, Aditi, chooses to marry her suitor instead of continuing her illicit relationship with her married lover; when the wedding planner finally is able to tell the Verma's maid Alice that he is in love with her; when Ria, the brides cousin, exposes the family patriarch for sexually abusing her years ago, and so on. I felt as though the importance of these subplots and the characters within the narrative was a lot clearer than in Daughters of the Dust.

Overall, I feel as though I can identify and relate better to the classical film narrative of Casablanca because I like feeling the sense of resolution at the end of a film. But I can also identify with the alternative film narrative within Monsoon Wedding because it was a new way, for me, of watching a film and interacting with the narrative and the characters present within that narrative. I didn't care at all for Daughters of the Dust and how it depicted the alternative film narrative, but I can say that I would enjoy watching films from either style narrative and that I have developed more of an open mind and a wider scope of interest after watching and analyzing these three films.