In Letoir a la raison, Man Ray brought in his photography technique to portray the nothingness in cinema.  He took a step further in Emak Bakia, which is understood as a Surrealistic cinema as well.

The influence from Surrealist group is noticeable, but the categorization of this film is not of my concern, as I mentioned at the beginning of this film.  The important element of Surrealist work, inner psych, is not yet fully expressed in this film,

The two main themes presented here are that of machine and vision.  Many movements remind the viewer of Man With a Movie Camera as if to celebrate the machine age. Famous Rayogram shows objects of mass production (nails, buttons, etc.) The light board, which tells news of the day, portrays the time period.

The film has non-liner, non-narrative structure, and the viewer always gets deceived when trying to create the story of their own.  At one point, the title says La raison de cette extravagance, and the camera shows a man going into the building.  The audience might expect the explanation for these seemingly unrelated footages shown one after another.  Instead, the torn collar of his shirt is shot backward, and the collar starts to swivel like other objects. 

Of course, Ray is playing with the duration of the audience, but also is challenging its desire for narrative and linear structure in cinema.  There are other ways to watch films rather than just sit back passively in theater; participation from the audience certainly bring this plastic art and the audience closer. 

The second big theme Vision is explored in various ways.  The rotating objects, distortion of the mise-en-sene, different film speed, all create an illusion in vision and mind.  And the illusion is that of nothingness. 

Ray uses Kiki as a sign of human vision.  Many times, the camera shoots her with painted eyes, which is also the ending of this film.  To me, this painted eyes represent eyes of the mind, therefore, he is suggesting that there are other ways to interpret films than just watching with the real eyes.  Any film has its audience, and although it depends on filmmakers intentions and attitude in filmmaking, the screening usually plays an important part in cinema. 

Not only the filmmakers can play with their vision on celluloid, they also provoke perceptions of the audience. 

In Emak Bakia, nothing is so consistent. Sometimes the images throw a voyeuristic tone, and other times, the character looks into the camera so intensely (and smiles, showing her teeth.)

Frequent superimposition of objects represents Rays psychological view of the reality. Here, the audience realizes that there are layers of visual presentation.  It is watching cinema, and not the reality per se.  The opening shot already presents these layers.  A man is being shot looking into a microscope. His eye is superimposed onto one of the lenses, but upside down.  Later, a womans eye is superimposed between the grill of the car.  Eyes are again shown over the each grill upside down.  Instead of the real eye, the camera zooms into the grill.

What is signified here is a marginal plane of the two themes this film deals with.  And after all, the camera-eye is that of a machine.