Steklyannyy glaz (1928) Review: A Weird, Funny Look at Early Movie Fakes

Is this worth your time?

If you like weird film history or seeing how people made fun of movies a hundred years ago, then yes. Watch it.

If you hate silent films or stuff that feels like a collage, you will probably hate this one. 🤷‍♂️

Steklyannyy glaz (The Glass Eye) is basically two movies fighting each other.

One half is actual footage of life in the 1920s. It is gritty and fast.

The other half is a fake movie they made to look like a bad melodrama.

It’s funny because it shows how people used to think acting meant waving your arms around like you're trying to catch a bee. 🐝

Lilya Brik and Vitaliy Zhemchuzhniy were clearly tired of the same old stories.

They wanted to show that the "glass eye"—which is just the camera lens—sees things better than we do.

The way the film cuts from a machine working to a woman crying in a giant, floppy hat is hilarious.

You can tell the directors are rolling their eyes at the audience.

Some of the newsreel footage is actually pretty intense.

There are shots of crowds and buildings that feel so heavy and real compared to the studio scenes.

It reminds me a bit of how The Girl of Today tried to be modern, but this is much more experimental.

I noticed this one shot where a guy is just staring into the lens for a second too long.

It’s uncomfortable. Like he knows we are watching him through the glass.

The parody parts are almost too good at being bad.

Nikolai Prozorovsky plays the "hero" with this look on his face that says he knows he’s in a joke.

It’s not quite as polished as something like The Single Standard, but it’s not trying to be.

The pacing is a bit all over the place.

Sometimes the archive footage goes on until you forget there was a plot.

Then suddenly, we are back to the fake movie.

It’s a bit of a brain scramble. 🧠

I really liked the bits with the film development.

Seeing the actual physical film being handled makes you realize how much work this was.

No CGI, no digital tricks, just scissors and glue.

The ending doesn't really wrap things up in a neat bow.

It just kind of... stops.

But that feels right for a movie that’s trying to break the rules.

It’s a cool little piece of history if you can find a good copy of it. 🎥

Just don't expect a normal story.

• The lighting in the fake scenes is way too bright on purpose.
• The archive stuff feels like a time machine.
• Lilya Brik had a really sharp eye for editing.

It makes you think about what we watch today.

Are we still watching the same dumb melodramas just with better cameras?

Probably.

Anyway, it's short. Give it a look if you're bored of Netflix. 🍿