5 Hugely Influential Films You've Never Heard Of

1. Man With A Movie Camera (1929)

This is, frankly, an awesome movie. Narrative might have been on its way and special effects were a fairly real prospect, but you just will not find a film more ahead of its time than this in my opinion. Directed by Dziga Vertov, it documents a day in the life of Russia in 1927, and it€™s a radical, surrealistic, avant-garde masterpiece that on the surface level is just a barrage of unflinching, beautiful images and shots, but a little further down, reveals itself to be a film of unparalleled importance in terms of cinematic development. The filmic equivalent of a grand symphony, with rhythms and nuances and grooves, this is a dazzling, dizzying and unforgettable experience, predating everything that came after it for the next 50 years. The hyperkinetic editing of Darren Aronofsky and Danny Boyle was here first. The social comment of Mike Leigh was here first. The floaty, non-narrative bound ethereal gorgeousness of Terrence Malick was here first. Split screen was here first. Stop-motion was here first. The jump-cut was here first. Overhead shots were here first. It even uses techniques that are rarely used today, such as in the mind-blowing sequence where the film breaks the fourth wall and shows us how the film was made. You heard that right; in this film, you get to see how it was made. It€™s also an important political film, because it was made at the tail-end of a period of new liberalism in Russia, before Stalin stamped his iron foot down. The film portrays many things that you don€™t even see in the movies of today; such as women and men in the nude, and even a scene of actual childbirth. These scenes occur not as an example of liberalism just because, but as part of the films purpose to show all life, these scenes are justified. So, not only did it progress the art form technically, but content-wise the film is daring as well. You€™ll notice that there is another important film on this list, also from Russia. This is a bit of a side-point, but in the early days of cinema, they really were ahead of the times, and the artists they had in their country were at the top of their craft, true scientists, experimenting with techniques and getting it all absolutely right. I try to avoid moulinexing my interests, but that these early breakthroughs were stopped by the political circumstances has always struck me as the most tragic example of the politicians just not getting art, and simply viewing it as a means to an end for propaganda purposes. Examples of this were later seen in Russia, where Andrei Tarkovsky kept being told that he could make two films a year, but due to the nature of the political regime, one every three years under excruciating circumstances was more like it. It leads one to wonder if cinema might have evolved quicker, had politics not got in the way. Wonder all you like, though, and at the end all you can analyse is what you have in front of you- and what a film to have in front you here! Films this beautiful are, frankly very rare, with beautiful being the operative word. It€™s a gorgeous piece of unforgettable film-making that left everything made at that time in the dust, along with most films being made today. If you care about films even a little bit, then it is impossible not to be excited by this stupendous piece of art. Without it, movies wouldn€™t be worth watching.