Saturday, October 24, 2009

45. Chelovek S Kinoapparatom/The Man with the Movie Camera (1929)

Running Time: 69 minutes
Directed By: Dziga Vertov
Written By: Dziga Vertov

A FILM WITH NO INTERTITLES, A FILM WITH NO SCENARIO, A FILM WITH NO CAST

First and foremost let me say that I am all for experimenting when it comes to filmmaking, but The Man with the Movie Camera was an experiment that I did not connect with and ultimately did not enjoy.

The idea is pretty cool. Dziga Vertov took his camera out and shot Russia through the progression of one day. During that one day we see all kinds of exciting things happening in front of us; from babies being born, to people dying, to factories producing large amounts of goods, to couples marrying, divorcing, separating, to men and women swimming, sunbathing, pole vaulting, jumping hurdles and throwing discs and all kinds of other things that you can imagine. The shots seem pretty random and watching this film at first is a bit overwhelming, as you're thrown all these random, off the wall shots and supposed to take them in and make a film out of them in your head. For me it just didn't work.

Not everyone will love every movie, and not every new concept will appeal to every viewer, and that's okay, that's what makes us filmgoers a lively crowd. We can get into heated debates and while one may side with Vertov and love his experimental film, others may condemn him as a hack and hate it. I wont side with anybody, but rather just keep it simple and say that me and this film didn't get along and maybe another day and another view will yield a different rating, but today the verdict is in on The Man with the Movie Camera, and it's not a good one.

RATING: 2/10 I gave it a couple of points, just for the idea, as I felt the idea was great, it just didn't connect with me.

NEXT UP: Pandora's Box...as we say farewell to the 1920's

October 24, 2009 12:52am

1 comment:

  1. Sounds pretty screwed up, definately not something I would enjoy either.

    ReplyDelete

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