Man With The Movie Camera (1929)

Man With The Movie Camera (1929) – An innovative silent movie that stretched the early understanding of what “making a movie” really meant.  Director Dziga Vertov and cameraman Mikhail Kaufman make a movie about a man making a movie of real life in Soviet Russia.

Directed by Dziga Vertov                                        Starring Mikhail Kaufman

The world had never seen anything like this before.  In many ways, we haven’t seen anything like it since either.  This movie introduces a variety of techniques that are commonplace today in the movies, like slow motion, jump cuts, multiple exposures and tracking shots.  For anyone who believes that “meta” is a modern media concept, they will be disabused by this almost 90-year-old movie.

Vertov knew from the beginning that what he was presenting was going to be a challenge to the moviegoers of the day.  That’s why it opens with an extended explanation of what was about to happen.  Generally, that’s a bad move. As they say in comedy if you have to explain the jokes…
Here it’s an interesting addition to the experience.  Kaufman isn’t just an actor, he is in fact filming as he’s being filmed.  Some of his footage, like the partiers in the car, shows up in the movie.

So this is a movie about the earliest days of what we would consider “modern life”.  It’s also a movie about a man making a movie about the life around him.  To a degree, it’s also a movie about the audience watching the movie.  “Man With A Movie Camera” is very self-aware of the entire process.  It is at times a documentary, a cinematic experiment in surrealism, and a very simple story.

Why You Will Like It – I’m not sure exactly how to explain it.  But it’s worth your time to see it.

Rating – *** Worth A Look