number seventeen
Lev Kuleshov
Born: 1899
A distinguished Soviet director of the silent era, best known today as a theoretician. The famous "Kuleshov experiment" was central to the development of montage and led Kuleshov to the belief that inter-cutting and superimposition, rather than performance, was the prime basis of filmic expression. His use of layered images and multiple symbols, it gives his work a greater depth of meaning. Kuleshov's own films, however, are far from arid; shrewdly adapting popular genres, they are playful, relaxed and experimental. He moved ably from satire (Mr West) to melodrama (By The Law), and his reliance on montage did not prevent him from eliciting some splendid performances from actors, such as his wife, Alexandra Kokhlova.
Born: 1899
A distinguished Soviet director of the silent era, best known today as a theoretician. The famous "Kuleshov experiment" was central to the development of montage and led Kuleshov to the belief that inter-cutting and superimposition, rather than performance, was the prime basis of filmic expression. His use of layered images and multiple symbols, it gives his work a greater depth of meaning. Kuleshov's own films, however, are far from arid; shrewdly adapting popular genres, they are playful, relaxed and experimental. He moved ably from satire (Mr West) to melodrama (By The Law), and his reliance on montage did not prevent him from eliciting some splendid performances from actors, such as his wife, Alexandra Kokhlova.