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Greatest opening scene in cinema history. The 'no trespassing' sign, the camera tracking upwards as the fence scales higher and higher, almost to the clouds. Dissolves upon dissolves. Inching ever so closer to Xanadu: a mansion and a castle, a fortress and a paradise - something out of horror and fantasy and adventure seemingly all at once. The light from the window remains stationary, signaling to the spectator that our story begins in that high tower, a sole fragment of warmth amidst this vast canvas of fallen excess. And the dissolve after the bedroom light goes out and the composition switches from exterior to interior, illuminating Kane's figure laying on the bed as another dissolve brings the audience *into*…

I’m not naïve enough to think that I have anything new to offer in my entirely unnecessary ode to Citizen Kane, but I'll continue writing this anyway because I like writing about films, and Citizen Kane is a film, all right, and a Towering Masterpiece of Cinema at that. I’d have to be exceedingly smart or exceedingly stupid to dispute that, and I reckon I fall somewhere in between.

Pulling apart Citizen Kane shot by shot is more than enough to learn how to make a film, but pulling apart the film's circular structure is also a brilliant way to learn how to tell a story. Since I attempt to write, it's the narrative structure of Citizen Kane that interests…