Costumes. It makes you feel really really really sad, but in a good way. For me RA should be indecipherable but like Ebert said, "If cinema is sometimes dreamlike, then every edit is an awakening. ''Russian Ark'' is a magnificent conjuring act, an eerie historical mirage evoked in a single sweeping wave of the hand by Alexander Sokurov. 'Russian Ark' spins a daydream made of centuries." Dreams are my language. Filmed entirely in one-take, Russian Ark is a fantastical and sweeping look at Russian history aided with a sense of aching melancholy and lost memories, slowly floating away into the deadening atmosphere of crumbling civilization. A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years. The movie consists of one unbroken shot lasting the entire length of the film, as a camera glides through the Hermitage, the repository of Russian art and history in St. Petersburg.
Every review of "Russian Ark" begins by discussing its method.
With Sergey Dreyden, Mariya Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy, Mikhail Piotrovsky. Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov broke boundaries with his dreamlike vision of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russian Ark. Studios. Similarly, RA probably works best for those conversant in Russian history, art history, or Sukarov's conceits. Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Hermitage Bridge Studio, The State Hermitage Museum Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) WDR/Arte Fora Film Koppmedia NHK Danmarks Radio (DR) AST Studios Mariinsky Theatre Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg (FBB) FilmFörderung Hamburg Yle Egoli Tossell … 3.5 stars Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov.
I admire it more than I actually enjoyed it, but man, that climax is a knockout. Lidiya Kryukova Maria Grishanova Tamara Seferyan.