"They used close-ups, wide angle shots, double exposures, edited film out and inserted it back into the film upside down or backwards."

In an idyllic black and white garden, a young woman with a blissful smile swings softly to and fro. She swings to and fro, throwing meandering glances, swinging to and fro. Suddenly an image of a hat. Wine bottles. A close-up of lips smiling. Lips smiling. Flashback to the hat. Lips smiling. Wheels spinning. A kaleidoscope of oscillating spheres undulating. Triangles, circles, pulsating, pulsating. Mechanical forms, rotating, whirling, gyrating.

For 12 minutes, Ballet Mécanique (1924) inundates the viewer with thrashing images and lightning events. At first, the film is challenging—even maddening—but try keeping up with its staccato rhythms and you might escape into a realm that transcends the rigid structures of the rational mind.

Instead of creating a typical film narrative, Fre...