Thoughts on Man With A Movie Camera

-An avant-garde meta-documentary with no intertitles, no actors, sets, or premise, and no apparent narrative. I, my friends, have gone as far into the depths of arthouse as I could possibly go.

-Director Vertov, a fervent believer in the 'kino eye' style of filmmaking, obliterating all none-documentary cinema, made this, I think, in response to criticism of his use of intertitles in a previous film.

-Wild juxtapositions (blinking eyes with shutter blinds, etc.), nine compositional pieces for a score (at least in the one I saw), dozens of editing techniques (double-exposure, close ups, stop motion), vaguely related topics intercut with each other (scenes of marriage and divorce filings, a wedding, a funeral, and a woman giving birth all together in a rabidly edited five minutes). Frequently, the cameraman of the title shows up, walking around, setting up shots, sometimes putting himself in dangerous situations to get them. Also, the editor, wife of Vertov, will be seen in the editing room, piecing together scenes that haven't appeared yet.

-This is a weird movie. Mesmerizing, but weird. This essay explains it better.