The year was 1919, the locale was Soviet Russia, and the mood was positively revolutionary. Luckily for him, Dziga Vertov was on the right train, filming Soviet Chairman Mikhail Kalinin on a propaganda tour. As a young filmmaker and theoretician, Vertov was at the forefront of a roaring debate a

Collage, In-your-face, Intense, Kinetic, Pioneering, Social revolution, Soviet montage

Faced with an unforgiving lump of marble, the 80-year-old Michelangelo sent more splinters soaring (and at three times the speed) than three robust stone cutters could produce. Mad with loneliness (his lover, Vittoria Colonna, closest friend, Luigi del Riccio, and lifetime servant, Urbino, were all d

Anxiety, Dramatic, Ecstatic, Intense, Renaissance art, Tragic, Visceral

Jean Epstein had a theory. The star of his theory was the machine -- an anti-hero, a character the audience loved to hate. Epstein recognized the machine as an extension of humans, who manipulate objects, but magnificently immortal. A filmmaker, Epstein cast the camera, his own personal extension, in

Clever, Hallucinatory, Intense, Machinistic, Manic, Surrealist film

A whisper of light illuminates four figures, cloaking them in tenderness and warmth, and there arises a sense of the subtle anticipation of early morning, the relief that accompanies forgiveness, and the graciousness that rewards gentle touch. "The Return of the Prodigal Son" exemplifies the human

Baroque art, Dramatic, Intense, Pathos, Religious, Violent