Viewed in
2010
Formats
Netflix streaming (Xbox 360)
Premise
Dziga Vertov's masterpiece about a cameraman traveling around a city, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.
Loved
How I was fascinated by it.
Thoughts
It was definitely an experience that was hard to describe.
The film consisted of footage of industrialized Soviet Union and non-actors doing mundane activities shattered and reconstructed with dissolves, time-manipulation, super-imposed images, seizure-inducing cuts, off-balance angles, stop-motion, and music synchronization. Hell, he even demolished the fourth wall! It easily could have been like any other pretentious, artsy-fartsy student film, but instead, it came off as a thoughtful, compelling paradigm obliteration into what motion pictures are capable of. Remember, this was the 1920's, and movies had yet to shed its stage production essence.
I was shocked by how daring Vertov was with all those camera/editing techniques, plus, no plot/characters/narration. I was also astounded that he was able to show live birth and bare female breasts.
Watching it in 2010, it felt abstract yet documentary-like at the same time. The avant-garde, but subtly organized presentation obviously made it artistic. But the footage of cities, people, activities, machinery, vehicles in a foreign country nearly a century ago made this into a time capsule as well.
My only complaint was that the re-recorded score sounded too modern. But like my ignorance about 1929 movies, perhaps I just underestimated that someone could compose music like that at that time.
Clearly, this amazing artwork was not for everyone. And I would not be surprised if even the more hardcore of film buffs got impatient while watching. For me, I could not take my eyes off of this. It was as if the best directors of modern cinema traveled back in time, and created this as a punch in the mouth to the world: "Behold the true powers of cinema!"
What I would change
Music?
