Düsseldorf: A dizzying, industrial fever dream

Is it worth your time?

If you want a plot, look elsewhere. If you want to see how cinema can turn a smokestack into a piece of abstract art, you’ll dig this.

People who need dialogue or, you know, characters will probably check their watches five minutes in. It’s a mood piece, not a story.

The rhythm of the machine

There’s this moment where the camera just locks onto a bridge, and the way the shadows cut across the steel is wildly satisfying. Ruttmann doesn't care about the people living there as much as he cares about the geometry of the city.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Toonerville Tactics, though obviously a lot more industrial. It’s all about the edit. The cuts come fast. Maybe too fast sometimes.

Odd observations from the cutting room floor:

• The smoke plumes look like they were painted onto the sky.
• I’m pretty sure I saw the same crane three times, but maybe I’m just losing it.
• The way the trains move feels almost like a heartbeat.

It’s strange. You watch this and realize how much modern filmmaking has forgotten how to just look at a building without needing a CGI explosion to make it interesting. 🏢

It’s not quite as playful as the slapstick stuff like The Freshman, but it has its own kind of dry, mechanical humor. It’s a very German way of looking at the world. Serious. Precise. A little cold.

I found myself zoning out during the middle section—it drags a bit when the gears stop turning and the architecture gets too repetitive. Then, suddenly, a sharp cut back to the river and I was hooked again.

It’s an imperfect, choppy little film. Kind of like a half-finished sketch that someone decided to frame anyway. I don’t hate that about it. 🚂