Man With A Movie Camera

Last night I saw another silent. This one is a Letterboxd favorite (or "fav" to speak like the kids now) that's a 1929 picture from the Soviet Union: 

Somehow, it seems more poignant to watch this famous experimental Soviet silent short now; not only does it show life in Moscow, but also in Kyiv and Odesa... to clarify I do NOT support Putin's plan to once again unify Russia w/ Ukraine. With real life out of the way, I can mention that of course it was Letterboxd that I heard of this oddity years ago. Experimental pictures are typically not my thing so this explains the long delay in even giving the sub 70 minute movie a chance.

Turns out, it was such a vibrant and lively thing with all the camera and visual tricks used by director Dziga Vertov that it deserves such a high rating. Split screens, jump cuts, the movie sped up or slowed down, Dutch angles, freeze frames, tracking shots, and even a split screen tracking shot at one point... it is so wild that a few times you see the filmmakers film a scene then that scene is shown from their perspective. What must have Soviet audiences thought when they saw something so alien for the time? For certain this seems decades ahead of its time, and apparently that's how long it took people to accept this.

It is a look at life in the area, whether it be a panoply of different jobs that were held by the citizens, to something more casual such as a magician entertaining little children. As expected for a piece of art that was purely visual and featured no words spoken & the only text on screen was an opening scene explanation, the movie is better seen than described. Besides, others on Letterboxd have written better reviews of this than I ever could. If you don't care for “experimental movies” either, that should not preclude you from at least giving this a chance.