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good back-story, and good acting

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Justin Gates Online Review "Man with a movie Camera" The film, "Man With a Movie Camera" is a silent documentary of the cities Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa in Russia that demonstrates the real feel of being in the city quietly observing how everyday city life occurs. It is viewed as some kind of experiment by many because it is the first of its kind utilizing a silent approach to documentary showing city life. Created by filmmaker Dziga Vertov, the film has zero actors and relies solely on the social and work lives of the everyday Russian, rich or poor in this urban view of life. This black and white avant-garde stylized film, meaning experimental, was hated by many because of how different and experimental it was yet loved and appreciated by many for these exact same reasons. Loved for its various types of cinematic techniques and skills that Vertov either created, adapted or used, even though it received tons of harsh criticism back then, it is widely accepted as something new, inventive and fresh. A timeless film that filmmakers and filmgoers alike of all ages can enjoy at any point in film history and time to come. Some of the cinematic techniques that Vertov uses are fast motion, slow motion, split screens, jump cuts, freeze frames, Dutch angles, close-ups, tracking shots, and even footage that plays backwards. Also some critics thought his film was somewhat controversial because of the scenes depicting childbirth, something that is rarely given screen time, or scenes with women topless at the beach. One of my favorite scenes that he shoots is the scene in which a couple is getting married and he showcases a lot of close ups on the couples faces and always pictures them on the screen together, symbolizing their unity or togetherness. However, shortly after this scene one can view a couple getting divorced actually and you could cut the tension with a knife it was that apparent. He utilizes different techniques by never showing the soon to be divorced couple on the screen together. He does close ups of their sad or shaken faces but never together in the same shot symbolizing their essence of being separated. A complete stark contrast to the earlier scene of newlyweds and this depiction made me appreciate this film more because it is pure genius how he utilizes a camera to evoke different emotions or feelings to the audience. Another example of a scene that utilizes a different genius camera technique was the city scape of Moscow however it was sped up in fast motion showing peoples commute in their lives and I thought this was very interesting because it seemed like a modern day sped up version of a New York City scape. A technique I always thought was unique to this generation's filmmakers of my timeline but I learned that it is much older than one would actually expect it to be. Through further research it was revealed to me that Vertov had a kind of Marxist ideology, and that his film served as a kind of propaganda documentary, something that was not apparent to me the first time I viewed it. He was trying to create a more modern city in which its purpose would be to expose lifestyle and thought in the Soviet country. Truly a man ahead of his time, Vertov wanted to enlighten the world, more namely Russians, to try and bring about understanding where the country was at the time. Overall Vertov's new and amazing ideals brought to life by his exceptional work of art known as "Man with a movie camera" was a film for the ages that had themes and techniques other filmmakers only dreamed of using and that is why his film is praised so heavily.

Sometimes called 'A Man with a Movie Camera', 'The Man with the Movie Camera', 'The Man with a Camera', 'The Man with the Kino-camera', or 'Living Russia'. This experimental, avante-garde film is indeed, a confusing masterpiece. Driven by the vision that cameras are supposed to show a deeper truth which could not be seen with the naked eye; Soviet writer/director Dziga Vertov AKA David or Denis Kaufman did all this, in an attempt for film truth AKA Kino-Pravda. Shot with a camera, over the course of three years in the towns of Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa; the movie tells the story of a filmmaker (Dziga Vertov) traveling around a Soviet city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life. Using a radical use of montage and other inventive editing techniques, such as jump cuts, close ups, split-screen, Dutch angles, hand-held, tracking shot, dissolves, over-lane, double exposure, fast and slow motion, Dziga Vertov is able to show an excellent example of an "industrial city symphony travelogue" newsreel. Man with a Camera really does show the film truth. It pretty much influence the Cinéma vérité style in France. Because of that, there is no other silent film like this, at the time. It remind me of the silent era version of 1982's 'Koyaanisqatsi' or 1992's 'Baraka', because it has no overall narrating, actors or dialogue (In this case, much intertitles). I also love how the movie explain, how movies are made. It really expose the business, in which, they make their money. The movie even freeze frame, toward the middle to show us, the viewers, how this movie was getting edited by his wife Elizaveta Svilova. It was great insight at the time. Let's remember, there wasn't a behind the scenes or making of a film, documentary back then. So, pretty much, this was your inside look at the business, besides joining Hollywood, or going to filmmaking school. This part of the film is the reason, why I wanted to see it. The way, they film things, is interesting to me. One good example is the oncoming train scene. It was intense. Showing how they pull it off, was amazing. Probably, the best part of the scene. Another is the superimposing shot of the cameraman setting up his camera atop a big mountainous camera. Even, the shot with the cameraman inside a beer glass was cool. It emphasizes that film can indeed do anything, and go anywhere. It was so surreal. Even with those dream-like staging sequences, most of the film is a series of newsreels of real-life actualities. While, the birth and death scene is kinda graphic. Its show, how real, this movie is. The movie is also pretty political with industrial driven message. The first shot of the city, is a couple of questionable bums sleeping on a bench. It's then show a woman engaging in target practice, intercut with a box of champagne bottles, which disappear one at a time, as if she is shooting them. Then, you see shots of showing the healthy frivolous or leisure activities with that of strong industrial workers. It shows the communism new belief of rational recreation and how it's better for people to have leisure more controlled, ordered, and improving as a team, rather than the belief that one has success through self-improvement and self-enrichment. It's clearly, a shot at capitalism beliefs by then-Leninism style beliefs. A man getting a shave is intercut with an axe being sharpened, show how metaphoric, this film can be, for the people. Not everything in this movie is intense, dark & political. There were some funny moments, such as a couple applying for a marriage license, being followed shortly afterward by another couple applying for a divorce. It even got sexy and romantic at times, with a woman getting out of bed and getting dressed. Follow by a date with a couple, then marriage. However, some of the others visuals in this film, is a little too weird, like the crawfish on a plate at a seafood restaurant is made to appear to crawl away or the shots of chess pieces being swept to the center of the board to understand the meaning. I don't know, how those visuals is supposed to help the message of the contemporary "man" evolve from a flawed creature into a higher, more precise form at all. Overall: While, some of the visuals in this film is too strange for the general viewers and too stage for documentary lovers. It's still a well made movie, worth seeing. So check it out if you get the time.

If there's one thing I hate about movies it's when they waste my time. This is a prime example of that. Man with a Movie Camera is nothing but random shots the director filmed in his free time, vaguely edited together with everything waking up at the start and being active in the end. We see homeless people sleeping... A woman dressing up... Someone's hair being cut... and it's all unbelievably dull, so much so that the movie starts by explaining why it's boring. All it has is a handful of interesting shots, the eye inside a camera lens being the most famous one I suppose.It may have invented filming techniques, it may have been groundbreaking, but it's nothing more than a technical demo of things you could do and should've only been used as promotional material for video cameras.

Whilst films showing life in big cities were not exactly rare during the 1920s the inventive style David Kaufman brought to "A Man with a Movie Camera" was so unique and left such an impression that to this day it is still seen as one of the greatest documentaries ever made.Kaufman filmed the picture under the name Dziga Vertov, which translates as spinning top, nicely summing up the frenetic editing and jumping of the shots in the film. Kaufman was no fan of the narrative film feature calling it "the Opium of the people…long live life as it is", which is exactly what he did, preferring to shoot life as he saw it.The film is a city symphony showing the events one day except Kaufman actually filmed it in three cities over a period of four years. Kaufman succeeds in making daily life look thrilling; it's frantic pace bringing a high level of excitement. At the time, audiences must have been thrown off by the editing (the shot length averaging 2.3 seconds was unheard of in 1929). Kaufman essentially makes editing the star. In one sequence we are even shown the editing process, which he combines with still shots to great effect.Adding to the excitement is the regular footage of "the man with a camera". Many of the shots are of footage being taken and great lengths were gone to in order to capture some images. Balancing on a car, lying on train tracks as a locomotive approaches and hovering over a waterfall just to name three. Many versions are available with varying musical accompaniment. The version reviewed was with a score by the cinematic orchestra, which flowed beautifully and helped bring character to the images.It's fair to say that this will not be for everyone, somewhat ironically given our attraction to fast edited movie scenes and mobile phones meaning everybody seems to film every aspect of every day. But no talk or true story would put most people off; but go along for the ride and you'll enjoy it.Plus 1 if: You are a firm admirer of film history and editing Minus 4 if: You prefer your footage of daily like to include grumpy catsthearbiterofgoodtaste