Everyday

The above is essentially a summary of the main object of this Hans Richter film, executed, of course, with a fair if not great amount of abstractions. It seems that after playing with abstract shapes in the Rhythmus films and exploring abstract photography in movies such as "Film Studie", Richter wanted his approach in this film to be less about the technique and more the idea. These previous films, while interesting to see in themselves, hardly stretched themselves to support a greater idea or emphasize a certain concept through their abstraction - "Everyday", on the other hand, has a message that becomes almost painfully clear just through one forcing oneself through the entire sixteen minutes.

"Everyday" portrays in a vividly accurate manner the tediousness of work in Germany during the late 1920's, simply through a montage of images. People get up for work, trains arrive, workers go to their stations and complete the monotonous tasks of their jobs. Most of it is portrayed through timelapse shots put together in rapid succession, creating an interesting montage. As the work day ends, the same footage is then recycled to show a second day, and then again to show a third day, making the film purposefully dull to illustrate the repetitive monotony of the workplaces. It's a solid concept executed effectively and shows Richter's skill and understanding of what to do with the medium shining through - although the man just couldn't help throwing in a few stop-motion sausages in the middle to make it more exciting.