Today in class I had brought up a lot of similarities between Inception and Man With A Movie Camera. I went online just now to see if anyone else shared my thoughts and sure enough… they did.

The city landscape folding on itself, the constant references to trains, and the kicker… The director’s name, in Russia actually means “Spinning Top.” So, it’s safe to say that Nolan is pretty influenced by this film, which makes sense, since Inception is essentially a metaphor for the movie making process anyways. Pretty amazing what 80 years of technology can do to what boils down to the same concept: the magic of movie making and the foundations of dreams.

Looking at this film 86 years after its release is like looking at any classical piece of art. Is it truly enjoyable and fun to watch? Actually, yes, at parts it certainly is. Especially with the incredible score blasting in sync with the images. However, this is not a film meant to entertain. It is a film meant to experiment with a relatively new paint brush. If we were to really break down some of the editing/technical magic Vertov pulls off in this time period, we’d be talking for days. As someone who is not technical, the cutting of images was so precise and meticulous, it would be incredible to see what the man could do with modern technology.