Man with a Movie Camera

Rating:
Summary: A uniquely fascinating 1929 Soviet 'documentary'.
Review: I was curious to see "Man With the Movie Camera" ever since reading 'Kino-Eye', the director's rather bombastic manifesto about the virtues of nonfiction film making. Soon after the DVD was released, I ordered it online. I was not at all disappointed upon satisfaction of my curiosity.

The film is all montage, not story or lecturing, and makes a fetish of modernization and industrialization. It derives its power from the pure artistry of editing, from the rapid justaposition of images and of snippets of action from everyday life.

There's something about the total effect of Dziga Vertov's film, its zestful "sense of life", its manic energy, that may especially (and very surprisingly) appeal to fans of Ayn Rand, the anti-Soviet novelist who left the USSR for the USA during the mid-1920s and who went on to eventually write Atlas Shrugged.

It's interesting that Vertov is considered one of the trailblazers of cinema verite, the recording of the quotidian as-it-happens, whereas his film is actually a collage of kinetic images symphonically woven into an architechtonic whole of visual and spirtual unity. A product of organizing intellect, not mere assemblage, his documentary does not so much 'document' as utterly transform -- it is not so much true-to-life as true-to-vision.

Rating:
Summary: Obviously inspired Reggio and Fricke
Review: If you're a fan of Godfrey Reggio and Ron Fricke's the Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Naqoyatsi trio or the even more narrative-driven Baraka (Fricke), this hugely innovative, groundbreaking film is a MUST-SEE. You'll be amazed at the sort of filming and editing techniques these guys (and girl) employ during that period of time-- especially in comparison to what American cinema was like at the time.

Rating:
Summary: No audio essay
Review: Please note that this film is in the public domain and available on DVD from different companies. The Kino version does not contain the audio essay referred to in some of the reviews. The only extras on the Kino version are some short biogaphies about people involved in making the film. It's worth noting that the film has some scenes of topless women at a beach and also a somewhat graphic birth scene which some viewers may find objectionable.

Rating:
Summary: No audio essay
Review: Please note that this film is in the public domain and available on DVD from different companies. The Kino version does not contain the audio essay referred to in some of the reviews. The only extras on the Kino version are some short biogaphies about people involved in making the film. It's worth noting that the film has some scenes of topless women at a beach and also a somewhat graphic birth scene which some viewers may find objectionable.

Rating:
Summary: Nice additions with the DVD
Review: The addditional audio track offers explanations of both the music used and the techniques employed in making "Man With a Movie Camera." An evening with Europe in the 20s would include this film, Ruttman's "Berlin" and Clair's "Entr'acte." Beautiful transfer to DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Vertov creates a figure, a role, an ontolgy for the camera.
Review: The filmic space of Man With a Movie Camera creates manifold dimensions of perception. By framing the film as not only a production of film itself but the viewing of it Vertov establishes a context of moving barriers between what is real and what is portrayed. His passion for the modernized world of mechanization and city construction is seen in the city symphony sort of document, the way he edited manipulating time and multiple-spaces, as well as the portrayal of the camera itself as a figure having an ontological role. Throughout the film there is the explicit scenes of the cinema, posters to screenings, people in theatres, projections of the footage scene at that secondary level. Along with scenes of the editing process these "cross-sections" of flimmaking reveal some of the constructs to film's illusion. At the same time, it also obscures the lines defining reality and representation. Vertov's seeming infatuation with technology and industrialization is more of a celebration than that found in October, Eisenstein seems to have premonition of modernization's terror or dominance. His shots of city are echoed by energetic, fluid music. His edits that sometime incorporate divided images lauds the flux of urban activity. Machines are scene to improve the physique of humans. And the wonder/wander of the camera is there to capture it all.

Rating:
Summary: Vertov Has Created A Uniquely Cinematic Langauge
Review: The opening titles of MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA introduce the film as an "experiment in the cinematic communication of visible events." They prepare the viewer for a film event without intertitles, scenario, sets, actors, et cetera. "This experimental work aims at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema based on its total separation from the language of theater and literature." If Vertov's prefatory titles do not already awaken in you an irrepressible curiosity, I think there is little else I can say on behalf of "Man With A Movie Camera." The film succeeds in creating a uniquely cinematic language, which is still highly expressive today, even though the film is over seventy years old. I am reluctant to say anything more, partly because other reviews have already sufficiently praised the film, but also because I do not wish to compromise its uniquely cinematic language by further trying to translate it.

I will, however, concur with the previous reviews that this IMAGE DVD Edition is outstanding. The transfer has been digitally remastered from a 35mm negative and features an electrifying new score, which, though newly composed for the DVD, follows Vertov's own music instructions, and is recorded in full, crisp stereo sound. The superb transfer presents the film with vertical black bars, thus preserving the film's original aspect ratio. And, as if that isn't enough, the film is accompanied by an informative audio essay by Yuri Tsivian.

Some DVD producers have concluded that it is not worthwhile to invest time and money into engineering quality releases of silent films. Thus, it is encouraging to find an outstanding DVD edition of such a groundbreaking film from the silent era. This DVD belongs in the library of any serious film lover.

Rating:
Summary: The Visual Language of Creative Zeal and Activity
Review: This 1929 silent film, "Man With The Movie Camera" by director Dziga Vertov, is one of the earliest examples of non-fiction wordless narrative film making. On this 1996 DVD edition, a viewer has the choice of experiencing the work accompanied by an informative audio essay from Yuri Tsivian, or with an accomplished musical score composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra.

"Man With The Movie Camera" shows a film maker in the process of documenting Soviet city life from a kind of utopian philosophical perspective. It describes the course of a typical day in the life of a wide range of the city's inhabitants. It considers such a life as full of possibilities for personal growth and emotional fulfillment, while also showing instances of an occasional personal setback. The footage was assembled from shots taken within Moscow, Kiev and Odessa, over a number of years, during the mid 1920's.

Throughout the film, the director conveys an almost manic sense of intelligence and enthusiasm regarding the range of subjects being portrayed. The subjects include: home life, people commuting within the city, workers operating complex machinery, the machinery itself, emergency workers, people both shopping and selling goods, images of all kinds of architecture, and the activities of people during their leisure hours. An astonishing variety of perspectives, for capturing these ordinary subjects, are shown within this sixty-eight minute work.

According to the audio essay by Yuri Tsivian, in the film's time and social context, it was used partly for entertainment and partly to further a particular ideology, or interpretation, of communal life within the Soviet Union. Vertov was a visionary, however, who always carried with him the poems of Walt Whitman, so this film might now be better considered as highly accomplished artistic work, rather than as an obsolete socialist manifesto.

"Man With The Movie Camera" is recommended viewing for all students of new media. It provides some first-rate examples of inspired film editing, along with creative uses of camera placement and innovative choices for camera motion. It holds up well to, and perhaps requires, repeated viewing for a full digestion of it's dense content.

Rating:
Summary: Not just a portrait of a city -- a reflection on cinema
Review: This film has been aptly compared to Berlin: Symphony of a City, but what has interested me most about it is its portrayal of cinema as a universally accessible art form. While there are propagandistic moments -- celebrating the efficiency and lifestyle of the Soviet working class -- it easily transcends whatever purpose the authorities (or Vertov himself) may have had in allowing Vertov to film it. You have to remember that this film was composed for an audience that may have seen films but were certainly not film literate -- not many of us are now -- which is to say they had not likely been aware of the process of making films, or reflected much on the nature of film. What is so exciting about this film is that it presents both a portrait of a city, and of the life of its inhabitants, as well as a documentary (and self-reflexive) study of the art of filmmaking. There is much to learn from this film about the different ways of thinking about film, and I often show it in my film classes for this purpose.

There is the idea of film as a recorder of objective fact, that is potentially present anywhere though always located somewhere, suggested by the images of the filmmaker as a kind of eye towering over the city, seeing both the whole and the parts. There is also the idea of film as highly subjective, suggested in images that show the personal reaction of the filmmaker, and in images that show the personal dangers faced by the "man with a movie camera" in his effort to capture difficult shots. We see, in these shots, that film is not simply a passive recorder of events that unfold independently of the filmmaker but is also involved in the creation of these events. We see the editor, editing the very footage that we had just seen the filmmaker recording. We see that the filmmaker can be a kind of poet, making use of visual metaphors to suggest ideas: a train relay that suggests the intercutting of various scenes by the editor, a window and an eye that suggest the camera. We also see the capacity of the filmmaker to manipulate and create a new reality, when we observe animation (of the camera itself, seemingly taking on a life of its own without the cameraman), but we also see how this animation is achieved. We are even shown the audience itself, and by implication are included in the very picture we are watching. Some of these metaphors and ideas may seem heavy handed today, but that is only in my description of them. When you actually watch them they fascinate. The editing also is superb in this film -- always appropriate to the scene it is sometimes slow, and sometimes more rapid and kinetic than anything MTV produces.

All in all, I consider this an essential piece of cinema, well worth purchasing on DVD while it is still available. I hope it remains in print forever, but have a hard time believing it will, which is why I just recently purchased a personal copy -- when it was already owned by my campus library. (The picture on the DVD is quite fine, better than the VHS copy I have seen; the music that was re-created from notes left behind by Vertov is superb and fits the film quite nicely.)

Rating:
Summary: Montage Masterpiece
Review: This is the best film I've ever seen from that particular period of Rusian cinema, I even believe that this film is better than Battleship Potemkin and other works by master filmmakers such as Sergei Einsenstein (not sure about the spelling) This particular DVD edition contains the new Score made by the Alloy Orchestra, acording to Vertov's directions, it is way better than the older version, made with some weird classical music score. If you are interested in really learning how to tell a "story" without ANY words, intertitles or anything but images and "sounds" (it is a silent film, but the score resembles mechanical sounds at times, this sounds fit perfectly with Vertov's beliefs and his artistic movements), this is the film. Buy it ASAP!!!
Vertov, as many other great filmakers was much into ideology issues, please, don't look at this film as socialist propaganda, but as a masterpice, this is the way this films should be appreciated.