Director: Alexander Sokurov
Original Release: May 22, 2002
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5
 |
| via Wikipedia |
An unnamed, and unseen, narrator wanders through the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg with his companion, "the European," representing the Marquis de Cuistine, a French traveler. The camera follows the narrator's perspective as the two pass through time and space, each room of the enormous mansion/museum inhabits a different period of Russian history. They see Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, both Tsar Nicolases. They witness a 19th century ball, the siege of Leningrad and a diplomatic apology. Through it all, they see art - so much art. Apart from being the royal residence for centuries, the Winter Palace is home to the Hermitage Museum, one of the most extraordinary art collections in the world.
Russian Ark is a technical marvel. Thanks to what was at the time new technology, the entire film was shot in a single, 87-minute take. Well, they didn't actually get it right until the third attempt but still met the initial goal: one shot for the entire story.
Where do you go from there? Makeup and costumes are first rate. And of course, the art itself is lovingly, majestically documented. It reminded me somewhat of another Russian film we saw at the Green Mountain Film Festival several years ago, Francophonia (review included in this post). That movie focused on a different museum (The Louvre) but the trippy atmosphere and the historical sweep feel similar. In fact, both films could fit well in a museum-themed movie binge, along with Dahomey and maybe Bringing Up Baby or Night at the Museum for comic relief.
I definitely felt overstimulated by the end of Russian Ark, though the final shot of mist over the River Neva provides a bit of relief before the credits roll. Otherwise, it's definitely worth your time.
You had it right, at the very least a technical achievement. Technical art brilliance, technical filming brilliance. However you describe it, one of the great cinematic achievements.
ReplyDeleteI will have to check this out. The museum is incredible. I spent a full day there (staring at the opening of the museum, and ending when they kicked us at) and realized I could have spent 3 days there and it still wouldn't have been enough time. BTW, I just posted my review of "The Hour," a book about the cocktail hour which you might find interesting. It's a funny read.
ReplyDelete