Dziga Vertov's A Man with a Movie Camera (1929) is an experimental silent film, the next logical step after Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925) in silent Soviet cinema. The film begins by telling the audience that the entire film consists of real life footage and nothing was staged. We get to see two cameramen spontaneously film Russia in the 20's. The most obvious comparison must be made to Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi (1982) because the two are so similar in narrative and tone. Even though I'm not a big fan of Koyaanisqatsi, I utterly adored A Man with a Movie Camera.
The film uses pretty much every possible formal technique discovered by the time the film was made - and it was innovative by creating something new as well. Slow motion, fast motion, split screen, fast cutting, long takes, cross-cutting, kinetic compositions and unbelieveable camera movement - this film has them all. What is even better is that the film employs all these techniques flawlessly and smoothly.
Vertov explores the wide subject in a surprisingly precise and colorful way. At the same time it coldly observes, adores and criticizes the trends of its time.
Score: 10 out of 10
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