Union City

Starring:Cynthia Crisp, Deborah Harry, Terina Lewis, Dennis Lipscomb, Sally MacLeod, Irina Maleeva, Arthur McFarland, Everett McGill, Sam McMurray, Taylor Mead, CCH Pounder, Rachel Raymon, Rene Raymon, Asha Robinson, Todd Rolle, Charles Rydell, Granada Stephens, Terry Walsh, Wolfgang Zilzer
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Description

Described by director Dziga Vertov as an experiment in the language of pure cinema, "The Man With the Movie Camera" is perhaps the most dazzling and sophisticated, not only of Soviet, but of world silent cinema. Music by the Alloy Orchestra.

Customer Reviews:

Not a film as much as a language........2007-02-28

The Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

The opening moments of the newly-restored edition of Dziga Vertov's most famous film, The Man with a Movie Camera, explain that the silent film contains no cards because Vertov was less interested in making a traditional movie than in creating a visual language. Thus, those who go into this looking for a traditional movie aren't going to get much out of it; there's no plot, no characters, no story, not much of anything, really. The idea behind Vertov's vision was to (a) document daily life in contemporary Russia, and (b) to use nothing but images to convey the ambient emotions. And in that respect, the film is a smashing success; if you allow it to simply wash over you, it's a wonderful piece of work.

Perhaps even more interesting than Vertov's attempt to create a visual language was the movie's sense of what is popularly called "meta" today; the documentary itself is framed with images of a movie theater where people are attending a screening of, you guessed it, The Man with a Movie Camera. If nothing else, these scenes alone-- unheard of at the time-- would cement Vertov's place as one of film's pioneers.

Its importance in the greater scheme of cinema would be hard to overstate; Vertov's little self-aware documentary was a direct influence on hundreds, if not thousands, of movies that followed (most importantly Triumph des Willens, which changed not only the face of filmmaking, but the face of the entire marketing industry as well). Eighty years later, The Man with a Movie Camera has as much power to impress as it did when it was released-- as long as you're willing to take it on its own terms. ****

Pure Cinema.......2006-09-11

THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA is a film you're either going to love or hate, and it's unlikely you'll find a comfortable mid-ground. It's silent, Russian made, experimental. It opens with a manifesto rejecting inter-title cards, and an affinity to or reliance on theater and literature. It won't reject any of the tricks of cinema, though - including stop-action animation, slow motion, and at times dizzying, machine fire montages. It uses documentary footage to tell its story.

Although it doesn't tell a traditional story the movie does have a structure. It opens in an empty movie hall, records a projectionist queuing up reel one. Cuts to the hall, stop-action animates chairs unfolding. Cuts to the orchestra - conductor's baton is raised, the orchestra is readied and suspended. Enter audience. Love it or hate it, this movie never forgets it's a movie. I loved it. And I loved when the projector started and the real movie started.

And that journey - the one the movie takes - is well described by the second American title, `Living Russia.' We seem to spend most of the movie following a man with an old, hand-cranked, tripod supported movie camera as he travels through some Russian city or other. We, over his shoulder, seem to go everywhere and observe everything - a young woman sleeping in bed, people sleeping on park benches, store-front mannequins at rest. Eventually the woman and bench sleepers awake, the mannequins are animated, and we travel in time through the work and recreational life of a city. Then it's to the foundry, the cigarette packing plant, the beach, the volleyball court....

Some people will find this art house movie terribly self-absorbed and its lack of a conventional narrative frustrating. If you only like movies that throw a good story at you probably won't care much for this film. If you're not sure give this one a try - beneath it's lack of `story' is a fascinating story written on celluloid, vibrant, wry, and witty.

These other guy's are only saying this is good to look cool & get chicks..........2006-07-01

seriously, I can see how the camera work might of blown people away back when this was made (especially the scene in the factory where it keeps flicking like a strob to all the loud factory noise.) but today it just wont excite. Like the first light bulb ever...WHOA HOLY [...] THATS INCREDIBLE! But how often do you catch yourself saying that when you enter your bedroom everyday? Important film but very dated...only watch it to look cool & get chicks...trust me it'll work bruv!

Propaganda, but very well done........2006-05-13

Dziga Vertov's film is an amazing and quite daring foray into the realm of experimental cinema (I say this with some reservations -- see below). The viewer is quite literally transported to the Soviet Union of the past. We witness love and loss, happiness and sadness, life and death. We witness the beginning of a day and the end of a day, a wedding and a divorce, a birth and a funeral. All the scenes are real -- the birth is a real birth, the funeral a real funeral, the divorce a real divorce. Nationalistic and cultural boundaries begin to fade since the events depicted say more about human nature than they do about a particular people.
The music is quite inventive and amazing, especially when one considers that only three young men are performing it. The editing is some of the most astonishing ever to come out of Soviet silent cinema.
That said, there is a somewhat irritating political message that comes forth -- that industrialization will solve the problems of humanity, that those who follow the Party line are the ones depicted as being sober and responsible. So many people are shocked by Nazi propaganda films such as "Triumph of the Will," -- I find it sad that more people are not troubled by Soviet era films which tout the beauty of Marxist-Leninism while ignoring the carnage and sometimes outright genocide (i.e. the Ukranians)carried out by the Soviets for over seventy years. The fact of the matter is that Soviet Marxist-Leninism slaughtered millions of people and enslaved millions of others. This is a troubling hunk of history that is difficult to ignore when watching this otherwise masterful work of filmmaking.

NO story. Good cinematography. Okay music........2006-02-20

I watched this movie after hearing how highly rated it was. VERY disappointing. Musical score over shots around Russia, or Europe. I couldn't tell since there was no story, no words (even subtitles). Just a guy with a movie camera recording everyday people in their daily lives.

The music was NOT good, certainly not great. Even movies like The Third Man (1949) had amazing music. Not here.

So you have video and music, with no plot. No words, even silent era subtitles like Chaplin-NOTHING. If the music and video can't keep you interested... Skip this.

There are great films from this era. This is not one of them.

Walt D in LV

Average customer rating:

Not a film as much as a language.
Pure Cinema
These other guy's are only saying this is good to look cool & get chicks...
Propaganda, but very well done.
NO story. Good cinematography. Okay music.

Man with a Movie Camera
Director: Dziga Vertov
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00008WJC0
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Customer Reviews:

Not a film as much as a language........2007-02-28

Pure Cinema.......2006-09-11

These other guy's are only saying this is good to look cool & get chicks..........2006-07-01

Propaganda, but very well done........2006-05-13

NO story. Good cinematography. Okay music........2006-02-20

60 Minutes - Dumped on Skid Row (May 20, 2007)

Average customer rating:

60 Minutes - Dumped on Skid Row (May 20, 2007)
Starring: Anderson Cooper
Manufacturer: CBS
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Amazon.com

Airdate: 05/17/07 For years, homeless people in Los Angeles have claimed that hospitals where they've sought treatment have literally dumped them on Skid Row, often before they've recovered. To prove it, some homeless shelters set up surveillance cameras, which is how they learned of one woman left at the side of the road by a hospital, wearing only a hospital gown. The city of Los Angeles is now investigating 50 cases of alleged "hospital dumping." Anderson Cooper reports.

Average customer rating:

A bad film, even 4 Blondie fans...
Union City
worst transfer of film to DVD ever
Where are the Extras?
CORRECTION: THIS REVIEW WRITTEN BY MARTIN LEHMANN

Union City
Starring: Cynthia Crisp , Deborah Harry , Terina Lewis , Dennis Lipscomb , and Sally MacLeod
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( U ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: 6305154910
Release Date: 1998-11-24

Description

A modern film noir tale of murder and paranoia set amid the grit of a 1950s industrial city based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich (Rear Window).

Customer Reviews:

A bad film, even 4 Blondie fans..........2006-01-07

... best thing it gave rise to was "union City Blue", one of their best singles. Debbie singsa about the pain of getting up to go and shoot this crap on set.

It's total garbage as an "existentialist thriller" or anything of merit. Just bad pseudo-intellectual rubbish, best-forgetten about by Debbbie Harry or anyone else thinking that this is a tribute to Truffaut... GROW UP!!!

Patrick

Union City.......2004-07-18

Harlan (Dennis Lipscomb) is obsessed with discovering who's stealing his milk every morning, ignoring his frustrated young wife (Deborah Harry) in the process. Mayhem ensues.
UNION CITY is a hyper-stylized neo-noir that never takes off. The sets are flooded in loud reds, or blues, or greens. The direction is loose and the acting is almost uniformly mediocre. It's apparent director Marcus Reichert was aiming at atmosphere and ambience, but in my case he missed by a country mile. The only spark of recognition generated by this one was when Harlan says of a crazy neighbor lady: "Don't tell me you can understand what she's talking about." Nope, can't say that I can understand. Can't say that I much care, either.

worst transfer of film to DVD ever.......2004-07-13

This would be a great DVD if only the transfer were at least mediocre. It is in fact possibly the worst transfer of film to DVD I've ever seen. I remember seeing this film at the Filmex film festival many years ago, and recalling the cinematography by Ed Lachman to be way too cool. None of that is apparent by watching this release by Fox Lorber. Please, someone release a better version!

Where are the Extras?.......2002-10-15

Content-wise, this is for Debbie Harry fans only. Everitt Magill from Twin Peaks is in it too, and Pat Benetar has a small cameo near the end. Blondie's Chris Stein wrote the orchestral soundtrack. The movie is so-so. I was hoping for some good DVD extras like deleted scenes and a more extensive still photo gallery. They aint there (and there were plenty of deleted scenes, as referenced by the still gallery!) Too bad. No subtitles either. Lazy much?

CORRECTION: THIS REVIEW WRITTEN BY MARTIN LEHMANN.......2002-07-22

...Union City is the ultimate French existentialist thriller - you hang on every word like a meathook - but made in New Jersey in 1979. Firstly, you have got to get off on the images, which are like rotting fruit, and, secondly, you have got to wonder at the conviction of these actors, especially Deborah Harry, who all give the most extraordinary dead-pan performances....

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