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hot take: it’s a wonderful life is a more significant American film than citizen kane. it’s the better work of art
even if Kane gets points for originality, capra’s ingenuity in pulling other levers of the medium are just as compelling. for instance, sentimentality — especially when it’s costly, not cheap — is more revealing than deep focus
Capra‘a vision of the meaningful life is ecological, neighborly, even socialist. and yet profoundly American. Welles’ is just a box of puzzle pieces, which amount to mostly capitalist individualism
the unreliable narrator trick isn’t helpful or revealing outside of the commentary on media. in the personal context, it just comes down to whether you buy Kane’s cynicism or Life’s conviviality
the movies deserve to be pitted against each other. so much so that I wonder if Capra made it directly in response to Kane.
the ultimate measure of a FILM is its projection and performance across time and culture. Kane summits a peak that Life renders hollow. but both are tremendous American epics that can’t be overlooked.
i think we forgive the fantastics of Kane more easily than the excesses and flaws of Life. but in doing so we miss why one is still adored while the other is mostly just endured
