Chelovek's Kino-Apparatom (aka Man With A Movie Camera) (1929)

A documentary on city life in the Soviet Union in 1929. Directed by Dziga Vertov, this is cinema in its purest form. No plot, no actors, not even intertitles commenting on or referring to the action. Just people at work and at play, giving birth and attending funerals, getting married and getting divorced, etc. In other words, life. The closest the film has to a "character" is the cameraman who is an omniscient presence. It may sound like a dry viewing experience but it's anything but. Cinema is a visual experience and the film is a dazzling parade of images and faces accompanied by Michael Nyman's superb underscore (other transfers have different underscores but I can't imagine a more satisfying one). Vertov uses every cinematic technique available to him: editing, freeze frames, slow motion, accelerated movement, split screens, tracking shots etc. One could get drunk on the imagery. Surprisingly the film wasn't greatly admired when first released as Vertov focused on form over content. Today, it's recognized as one of cinema's greatest achievements. Poetry in motion and de rigeur to anyone remotely interested in cinema as an art form.