And this week's Friday night movie has been... Man With a Movie Camera!
Anyone heard of this? It's a Soviet movie dating all the way back to the silent era - 1929 to be precise - that has gone down in history as being one of the most influential movies ever made. Such a reputation rests on the fact that this movie employs many film-making techniques: cross-cuts, slow motion, fast motion, reversing, quick cuts, stop animation and more.
Granted this could yet another instance of me, so far this year, of watching yet another lesser known/foreign/arty film but then again, I have always relied on the notion that I talk about the movies I've seen and hope that what I type connects with someone. So I see no reason to stop now.
As for the movie, well, clearly it's reputation lies on how it managed to expand the vocabulary of film. At first glance it is a documentary what with it showing a day in the life of an Eastern European city, with it's occupants at work and play. Yet I personally felt that I was watching the distant progenitor of countless music videos.
Ultimately however, the strength of this movie lies in it's visuals and what the director, Dziga Vertov had managed to accomplish. There are some stunning visuals and some interesting narratives at work.
That being said, has this movie aged? I ask this as we are watching the same techniques that have been replicated many, many, MANY times since. I would say no as this movie's followers would no doubt take the 'I can do that too' approach. Here however I don't get the impression that Vertov was showing off - largely because this is still a documentary first and foremost.
So yeah, nearly a century later, this movie still has power.
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