Man With the Movie Camera

Man With the Movie Camera
by Dziga Vertov

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Mikhail Kaufman
Director: Dziga Vertov
Cinematographer: Mikhail Kaufman
Writer: Dziga Vertov
Editor: Yelizaveta Svilova
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Silent
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 68 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-02-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment

Movie Reviews of Man With the Movie Camera

Movie Review: Unique and unforgettable cinematic experience!
Summary: 5 Stars

Even if Soviet Russian Avant Garde is your least favourite genre, chances are that "Man With the Movie Camera" will still leave a deep and permanent impression on your mind and compel you to watch it more than once. Unlike other famous Russian films of the late silent era such as Eisenstein's "The Battleship Potemkin" and Pudovkin's "The Fall of St Petersburg", the director of this film, Dziga Vertov, took an even more revolutionary step away from mainstream commercial cinema, and even fiercely resisted the narrative film, meaning the staged, theatrical, planned movie with a story and actors. This outlook on art and cinema led to Vertov developing the concepts of capturing "life unawares" and "life as it is" with the movie camera to create a unique experience in film documentary which is at the same time an impressive work of art.

While the word `art' usually conjures up images of beauty, style, grace and elegance, the viewer's first impression of "Man With the Movie Camera" is anything but beautiful, as images of city streets and people waking to a new day and getting ready for work bombard our visual senses. But before long it is obvious that there is a distinct rhythm, and what seem like random images taken from moments out of everyday life are put together - like a musical composition - to create a perfectly choreographed work of great artistic skill. Even if the viewer has no interest in the artistic aspects, the bombardment of images using the whole wide range of editing and camera techniques known at the time becomes quite mesmerizing and fascinating. Images of streets in Russian cities like Moscow, Kiev and Odessa show transportation from trains, trams, horse carriages, ambulance and fire engines, then people going to work in coal mines, fields and in the city, using modern technology of the time such as the telephone, switchboard and typewriter; people going to a wedding, a funeral, having a baby, being pampered in a beauty salon, then enjoying recreation after work such as going to the beach, dancing and playing sports and games. Every aspect of life is touched on, and it never becomes boring because the tempo changes frequently, or we see the cameraman himself, who was Vertov's brother, seeking the best position to film, then there are close-ups, unusual angles, frozen frames, montages and other effects to keep the viewer under a spell.

This Image DVD has a musical score by the Alloy Orchestra, based on instructions by Vertov himself because in a visual work of art like this, the music should underscore and complement the images as best as possible. The Alloy Orchestra has achieved this goal brilliantly, and there is also an optional audio commentary to provide more insight into Vertov's ideas, as well as various background information which help the viewer appreciate the film on a deeper level.

Vertov resisted the notion of telling a story like all his contemporaries, but he ended up telling a much more profound and important story than all other filmmakers, namely the story of life, told in the universal language of pictures, of cinema, which requires no words and no speech. This is perhaps what makes this film special and unique, and transcends any label one might like to give it, whether Soviet Avant Garde, Silent or documentary. An experience not easily forgotten, and well worth adding to a serious film collection!

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Summary of Man With the Movie Camera

Described by director Dziga Vertov as an experiment in the language of pure cinema, "The Man With the Movie Camera" is perhaps the most dazzling and sophisticated, not only of Soviet, but of world silent cinema. Music by the Alloy Orchestra.

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