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Information
- A.k.a.
- Man with a Movie Camera
- Year
- 1929
- Runtime
- 68 min.
- Director
- Dziga Vertov
- Genre
- Documentary
- Rating *
- 8.3
- Votes *
- 13,697
- Checks
- 6,663
- Favs
- 945
- Dislikes
- 50
- Favs/checks
- 14.2% (1:7)
- Favs/dislikes
- 19:1
Top comments
-
Flops
This was way ahead of its time. The music in the Cinematic Orchestra version definitely adds to it. Almost makes for a psychedelic vibe at times. 11 years 6 months ago -
Wise Jake
A great film. Insane montage and groundbreaking camera techniques. Definitely worth the hour it takes to watch this gem. 14 years 9 months ago -
dombrewer
I'd never really clocked this film until it suddenly landed with an almighty bang in the Sight and Sound Critics poll this month - knocking Eisenstein's "Battleship Potempkin" out of the Top 10. And what an absolute pleasure it is - unlike "BP", which never particularly interested or thrilled me regardless of its influence and stature - where Eisenstein's montage editing in 1925 is clever and effective, Vertov's four years later is dazzling, witty, beautiful, ingenious... and the intellectual rigour he uses in bringing his vision to the screen is extraordinary. Using the camera in every conceivable fashion it's a documentary film of "a day in the life" but also a film of the filming of that day, and the editing, and the watching too. How thrilling to have sat in the cinema in 1929 and watched a film that showed the audience sitting and watching the same film. Pretty much every camera trick in the book is employed, including multiple exposures, reverse, fast and slow motion, split screen (Christopher Nolan's inspiration for a city folding over onto itself perhaps?) and great stop motion animation sections (including the camera itself coming to life like R2-D2's Russian great-grandfather). Along with a handful of other classic silent films this is decades ahead of its time and a joy from start to finish. Thank the lord for those critics of the Sight and Sound poll for pushing this film right into the top ranks.
p.s I watched the Cinematic Orchestra version on Youtube as well - lovely modern jazzy/electronica score - a bit like Zero 7, Air or Cafe Del Mar. Definitely worth a look if you haven't seen this version. 12 years 5 months ago
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In 24 official lists
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This movie ranks #1 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Documentaries of All Time
Sight & Sound's The Grea…
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This movie ranks #2 in iCheckMovies's 1920s Top 100
iCheckMovies's 1920s Top…
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This movie ranks #3 in Dovzhenko Centre's Top 100 Ukrainian Films
Dovzhenko Centre's Top 1…
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This movie ranks #5 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Non-Fiction Films
Harvard's Suggested Film…
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This movie ranks #8 in Paul Rotha's Silent but Not Forgotten
Paul Rotha's Silent but …
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This movie ranks #10 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
Sight & Sound's The Grea…
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This movie ranks #22 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
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This movie ranks #25 in Empire Russia's 100 Best Russian Films: Readers' Choice
Empire Russia's 100 Best…
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This movie ranks #25 in IMDb's Documentary Top 50
IMDb's Documentary Top 50
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This movie ranks #26 in Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art
Amos Vogel's Film as a S…
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This movie ranks #30 in Silent Era's The Top 300 Silent Era Films
Silent Era's The Top 300…
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This movie ranks #45 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movies You Must See…
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This movie ranks #56 in BFI's 360 Classic Feature Films Project
BFI's 360 Classic Featur…
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This movie ranks #64 in BFI's 100 Documentary Films
BFI's 100 Documentary Fi…
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This movie ranks #65 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
David Thomson's Have You…
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This movie ranks #97 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…
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This movie ranks #174 in The Guardian's 1000 Films to See Before You Die
The Guardian's 1000 Film…
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This movie ranks #178 in iCheckMovies's Most Favorited
iCheckMovies's Most Favo…
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This movie ranks #251 in Eureka!'s The Masters of Cinema Series
Eureka!'s The Masters of…
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This movie ranks #351 in Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Roger Ebert's Great Movi…
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This movie ranks #522 in Anthology Film Archives's Essential Cinema
Anthology Film Archives'…
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This movie ranks #662 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
Halliwell's Top 1000: Th…
662 -
This movie ranks #848 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
Time Out's 1000 Films to…
848 -
This movie ranks #912 in UNESCO's Memory of the World
UNESCO's Memory of the W…
912