Citizen Kane (1941)

Quick plot hole before the film students come for me: Kane whispers his famous last word to what sure looks like an empty room, so who told the reporters? Don’t think about it too hard. Orson Welles runs the show on both sides of the camera, and every frame looks like someone dared him to try a new trick: ceilings in the shots, a breakfast table montage that covers a whole marriage, shadows doing most of the acting. Joseph Cotten is the warm center as Leland. Weak spots: the reporter leading us around is a guy we mostly see from behind, and the opera stretch with Susan drags the middle. Back then it made $1.9 million domestic. Today it sits at 99% with critics and a perfect 100 on Metacritic. I’m giving it a 9.0 because every director is still stealing from it, even when it plays more like a lecture than a party. $953 says you whisper a random word on your way out of a room tonight just to see if anybody investigates.

What works: Welles packs every shot with ideas, from the breakfast table montage to the deep focus framing, and Joseph Cotten’s Leland gives it real heart.

What doesn’t: The reporter leading us through the story is a blank with a hat, and Susan’s opera stretch drags the middle of the movie down.

Who it’s for: Anyone who has heard it called the greatest movie ever and wants to check the homework themselves.