Man With A Movie Camera (Russia, Dziga Vertov) may be the purist form of "documentary" style film. Presented as "a day in Russia" if you will, with no "actors", but still full of characters. There is no story , but the set up presents this reality as pure film. There's the curtain, the seats ready to watch, the theater ready to show this Russian Reality. The film is an editing masterpiece (edited by Vertov's wife). , but it exposes itself, showing The Man with the movie camera getting into his set ups.Under a train, on a truck, a motorcycle. The film is shown being made and edited as you are watching it, its more a documentary about making a documentary about making a film.....
And if you want to break Russia circa the mid 20's down (according to Vertov) :
Hats, lots of hats,
Street cars and buses,
Booze,
Smokestacks,
Dirt/Grime,
Sad Old People,
Gears....all of Russia is made up seemingly of a Steampunk Cosplayer's wet dreams.
The film is without a doubt beautiful, any one of its many frames could be frozen and hung on the wall proudly. Its well worth watching, readily available via Netlix, or via the public domain.
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