The first film in Vigo's very short career greatly resembles the "city symphony" pieces of the time (in fact, cinematographer Boris Kaufman was Vertov's brother) but is more Bunuellian in tone, skewering the bourgeois and sending out a call for revolution among the common people. Vigo makes powerful, and often hilarious, use of juxtaposed shots to mock the idle rich and ultimately endorsing their destruction. We see upper crust types looking bored and lazy contrasted with the lively working class, unprivileged but vibrant. Surreal montages are used to suggest a stuffy man imagining a young lady in various outfits until she's nude, or another man suntanning until he becomes an alligator. Vigo's fearlessness in editing and camera movement is evident.
Review of À Propos de Nice
