About

Man with a Movie Camera is a soundtrack album by The Cinematic Orchestra, released in 2003 on Ninja Tune. The album features re-workings and thematic reprises of several tracks from their previous album, “Every Day” which includes the track "Man with a Movie Camera" and an instrumental version of "All Things to All Men" entitled "All Things".

The album is a soundtrack set to the then ground-breaking 1929 silent documentary film, Man with a Movie Camera from Soviet director Dziga Vertov. The Cinematic Orchestra were commissioned to record and play the score as the opening event in Porto, Portugal's year as European Capital of Culture in 2001.

Taking place at the Porto Film Festival in May 2000, their first live performance was met with a standing ovation from the audience of more than 3,500 people. Since then the songs have been performed at film festivals throughout the world.

In November 2002, the album was recorded over two days at the Whitfield Street Recording Studio in London, which included a string section and percussionist Milo Fell. – Wiki

“The genesis of Man With a Movie Camera lies in the selection committee of a Portuguese film festival, which asked Cinematic Orchestra to score their re-airing of Dziga Vertov's 1929 film of the same name, a silent Soviet documentary focused on a day in the life of an average worker. Performed live by the orchestra, Man With a Movie Camera doesn't allow J Swinscoe to indulge in his usual post-production magic, but it is a surprisingly adept score, with occasional bursts of on-the-one jazz-funk wailing to break it up. (Pity the poor comrade who's soundtracked 70 years later with a hyper-speed Pretty Purdie-type drum solo and some old-school-rap samples in the background.) Scattered moments of brilliance abound, and at one point, someone on sax comes up with a brilliant foghorn recreation. The cinematic material lies in '70s astral jazz, with evocative, tremulous work from soprano sax and violin.” – AllMusic

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