Man With a Movie Camera

Huey McEvoy

What's referred to now as a "gamechanger". What the camera shows (and how the editing presents it), seems so fresh that it's incredible to think this was the first time many of these techniques were used. But more than a film school boxticker, it's a very moving, witty and successful account of A Day In The Life of the ordinary and the extraordinary. (The version scored by Cinematic Orchestra is highly recommended).

anarresti

Such a wonderful thing that this alien genius piece of art was produced when cinema was still quite young. And, maybe, that makes sense. Because it celebrates all the potential the art form had at the time, making us watch both the work of a cameraman and be apreciative of his image seeking quest and the edited artfull result. It probably still is one of the most brilliantly edited movies of all times. Timeless?

Richmond Hill

Although this film is not unique or revolutionary in itself, it’s certainly an triumphant coalescence of early technique: striking, experimental, occasionally thrilling but ultimately formless and rather arbitrary. As an encyclopaedia of technique it’s superb; as a coherent whole less so.

Bilouaustria

CINEMA, 35 mm _ A worthy rewatch, because my recollection of the film (i first saw it 9 years ago on a PC) was only focused on the experimental side of it, in particular the editing and the the effects of over impression. Now that i have seen Ruttmanns "Berlin, die Sinfonie der Grossstadt" and Vigos "À propos de Nice" plus a few others from Vertov i have a different and fresh new eye to appreciate this masterpiece.

FISCHER

>>> Un des cinquante films essentiels du Septième Art qui se présente comme un magistral poème urbain, une inoubliable ode au cinématographe et un discret et pertinent hommage à la technique du montage, du trucage et de la mise en scène... www.cinefiches.com

Renton47

A city is no less natural than an anthill, and here we have a nice cinematic metaphor which shows the human ants navigating the mechanical maze they have built for themselves. The symbiosis of man and machine is here rendered as beautiful as anywhere before. It also quite clearly signposts that rather than liberation by machine we were always actually seeking assimilation into the machine.

EdieMaas

Should we find ourselves in some godforsaken, post-apocalyptic future, where film is dead and long forgotten, let this be the one surviving print. A Rosetta Stone for the language of cinema. And film would be born again! Having said that (and risking blasphemy) I'm fascinated by the idea of a newer iteration of the project: (Person) with a Digital Camera; the linguistic evolution of film in the post-mechanical world.

Stefan Drees

One of the masterpieces of experimental cinema with some similarities to Walter Ruttmann's "Berlin, die Sinfonie der Großstadt". Nyman's score surely has its strong moments; but it is also problematic because - although like Vertov montage using repetitions, loops and rhythmic shifts - it doesn't match the avantgardism of the incredible movie on the structural level.