The result is a 67-minute fever dream of Socialist Realism on acid. Here is the irony that makes this film fascinating today: The Soviet authorities hated it.
We throw the word “enthusiasm” around a lot. It’s the pop of a dopamine hit, the clap of a studio audience, the caffeine jolt of a morning meeting. But what if Enthusiasm was a monster? What if it was a raw, grinding, sonic assault that got you fired up not by making you feel good, but by forcing you to hear the world differently? enthusiasm movie
If you search for “enthusiasm movie” today, you might expect a forgotten 80s comedy or a feel-good indie. Instead, you find one of the most radical, abrasive, and brilliant films ever made. This is not a movie about enthusiasm. It is a movie that is enthusiasm—the violent, industrial, revolutionary kind. By 1931, Vertov was already famous for Man with a Movie Camera (1929), a silent film so energetic it seemed to vibrate off the screen. But Enthusiasm was his first talkie. And he hated how other talkies worked. The result is a 67-minute fever dream of