Notes To a Project on Citizen Kane

Classic films don’t always beget classic video essays, but such is the case here. Paul Malcolm takes on Citizen Kane in an essay that is not only thought provoking, but also hauntingly beautiful (due in part to the inspired choice of Sigur Rós as musical background). Malcolm combines footage from Welles’ film with quotes by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard. The result is an epigraphic video essay in which the written text, for once, does not impose on the visual power of the film.

 

The video embedded here is not the complete version. The full piece has a written coda, questioning the status of this particular edit and explaining its genesis. You can watch that full version on the archive.org website. Also, the always invaluable Film Studies For Free did a short write-up about this video back in 2010.