Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition | Anna Aleksakhina, Konstantin Anisimov

Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition | Anna Aleksakhina, Konstantin Anisimov | Quite the Project, Pulled Off Beautifully

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Russian Ark: The M...

	Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition Anna Aleksakhina, Konstantin Anisimov Fox Lorber, 2003 average customer review:based on 114 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An understated breakthrough in Film History...

I went to this film prepared not to like it--but it draws you in slowly. By the time that you realize that it has been an absolutely seamless journey, with NO cuts, NO splicing, no nothiing--absolutely none of the Conventions of Film that we all have become so used to, but the camera relentlessly rolling on and on, you will be amazed. If there ever was the mental equivalent of ones' jaw dropping open from surprise, then this is what happened to me.
It is a quiet film that is actually a journey in time. Film buffs and History enthusiasts and most of all, lovers of the Hermitage will enjoy it. The costume details in the Historical segments are mind boggling. Every single detail in this film is done with absolute Zen-like care. It is all done in one enormously long take, which , logistically is almost impossible. It could not have been made at any other time than the present, and must have taken a 20 Terabyte drive to accomplish!!! Well done. If you need an action film, or a sizzling plot, then this is not for you. You just won't 'get it.'

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Quite the Project, Pulled Off Beautifully

One can't help but be amazed at the technical and artistic miracle pulled off by Alexander Sokurov and crew in Russian Ark. This might go down in cinema history alongside Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, Godard's Breathless, and Antonioni's L'Avventura as revolutionary icons of filmic language. Well, perhaps not that far, but time will tell. ;-)

As a narrative, the film is insightful and entertaining but hardly revolutionary. What we get is a spotty rendering of Russian cultural history as manisfested in the halls and annals of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, it's cleverly told through the wanderings and confabulations of a semi-fictional French marquis paired with a presumably modern day accidental time traveler who's represented by an off-camera voice and a point-of-view steadicam. Both find themselves, suddenly and inexplicably, at the Czar's Winter Palace in the 18th Century. From there, it's a marvelous series of tableaus depicting various events, personages, and works of art which have held their presence there across three centuries. We slip from one era to another as our wandering pair traverse various physical thresholds within the palace.

It's difficult to measure the film's resonance since one is simply in awe of the technical achievement--it was all shot in one single ninety-minute take! The stagings and filming (on hard drive, but it looks like film) are a wonder of rehearsal, logistics, and precision timing--to say nothing of mental and physical endurance. Yes, it was contrived as such, so perhaps the style "is" the substance here. But when was the last time you've marveled at a cinematic technical achievement that occurs "before" post-production?

Whether one truly enjoys the film is probably dependent on one's appreciation of Russian history in relation to its culture as well as to that of Europe as a whole. Just know that the acting, stagings and costumes are wonderfully authentic. The direction, cinematography, and sound are superb. Though the events depicted are mere snippets, they just might inspire one to explore further. I found the film initially confounding, but most enjoyable and rewarding on subsequent viewings.

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Remarkable achievement

Russian Ark is an unquestionably beautiful work of art centered and surrounded by art incarnate, the Hermitage. There are moments in the film where the beauty of the art, combined with the musical score and scene, transcends to something intensely emotional, yet not easily describable. Although this film is not for everyone (not even for many), it is for everyone wanting something more ethereal than the ordinary offerings.

Not bad, but not outstanding either

Ever since the creation of feature-length films, Russian Ark has been an inescapable inevitability. If you don't already know, it is the first and so far the only movie to be made in only one take. The entire film is one long tracking shot.

I went in knowing that, and I promised I wouldn't mention that fact in my review. But, like the film, it was an inevitability. However, I did not know going in that the tracking shot is a POV shot. It didn't really make much difference. We see through someone else's eyes, but never really get to know whose POV we share.

Shall we press forward?

The goal of the film is to visually capture three hundred years of Russian history. I myself am little familiar with the details recounted, but there is a strange hypnotic quality that kept me intrigued. It's impossible to judge the film by the same standards as one would most others because it's not really a drama. It's an onscreen ballet that turns the audience into one of the dancers.

The film didn't really inspire me in the way it was meant. Most of the film consists of watching people look at the art from collections held by historical figures. The cameraman and his European guide drift in and out of invisibility as they walk among the relics of the past, travelling between periods as they walk from room to room. Neither is sure how he ended up there, but they remain too in awe of their surrounds to bother. The truth is eventually revealed, but it is no huge twist given how strange the film is to begin with.

The film never bored me, but it never entirely captivated me either. It reminded me of the rides of Epcot at Disney. You strap yourself in your seat and let yourself be guided through an animatronic universe explaining whichever region to which the ride belongs. This dares to be a little more frank about its subject matter, but at the same time, you never quite feel transported the way you do on such rides.

If Fellini were to make an entire film based on the ending of 8 1/2, it would probably be something like this. Russian Ark is an interesting little epic that maybe could've done better with a plot.

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A lovely work of art, but a movie?

I'll confess to being extremely impressed with Russian Ark as an artistic and technical accomplishment. I'm as impressed as anyone with Sokurov's ability to film it in one take (and the ability of the actors late in the film to keep their composure - the fear of messing up at the very end of the thing would probably have made me faint as soon as the camera turned in my direction), and the images are sumptuous and lovely. They could hardly be otherwise in as gorgeous a setting as the Hermitage (Winter Palace). I'm not a very good photographer, and almost every photo I've taken of or in the place over the years looks like a masterpiece.

This is clearly a movie in the strict sense of the word, but it's more like a piece of performance art than a movie. It has the power to move me, but I love Russian history and have studied it for years. If you don't know anything about Russian history, watching this film will be something like looking at a painting by Mondrian or Pollock after a lifetime of looking at Rockwells and El Grecos. It will probably leave you cold and baffled, but liking the pretty colors, costumes, and sets. I'd recommend spending some time with Pushkin, Catherine the Great, and Dostoyevsky before watching this. That won't guarantee that you'll like it (I can't really say that I do), but you'll have some basis for understanding it.

If it was Sokurov's goal to make something moving and emotional (I've read that it was), he wasn't entirely successful; if it was his goal to make something beautiful and impressive, he did a fine job. I can't help but feel, though, that beauty isn't enough to make a great film.

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