Review of Man with a Movie Camera (1929) by Nick S — 16 Feb 2009

Whilst this film is not for the casual mainstream filmgoer, there is a LOT of filmmaking goodness to be appreciated here. In my view, the main aspect of the film that caught my eye was the pace of it, superbly done even without the use of sound to aid it.

As with Russian Ark, I didn't know squat about Russian culture and so perhaps that's hindered my viewpoint on the film slightly. In terms of filmmaking techniques it set the standard for many of the modern day greats, and thus it deserves it praise.

On the downside, much of the content in the shots seems to repeat itself without lending anything to the film, i.e the numerous shots of the trams in the street. We get it, Russia has lots of trams! For learning, historical and practical filmmaking reference, this is top notch.

For the casual filmgoer? You'll probably loathe it!