Russian Ark | Review

Film in one take is just another boring museum tour.

Imagine the thought of spending a dreadful hour in a museum- now imagine an even scarier idea: watching a film which is entirely set in a museum and that lasts for more than one hour. Call this the history class school trip from hell or an exercise in style that covers a span of three centuries all under one impressively decorated rooftop. The St. Petersburg Hermitage museum is at once a bare gold and marble glowingly immense space while at other times it feels ghostly and claustrophobic. Filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov gives us a SteadyCam-ed whirlwind virtual tour of this structure-all in a 90 plus minute one take. Of course, the hand held camera is nothing in comparison to the operatic Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil intro. Sokurov merits praise for having the balls of directing such a complex endeavor, imagine how the entire process had to be rehearsed done to the challenges of lighting the film, of dealing with and positioning the hundreds of extras and perhaps having to hold a door long enough to not have the cinematographer screw up the frame of the image.

What is being touted as a “marvel in filmmaking” is hardly the choice of words I would use to describe Russian Ark-a film that comes off looking more like a simplified “art” film version of a Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The bigger part of the picture sees this ghost-like character continually addresses the camera discussing his abstract theories of mother Russia versus the attitude of the West. Behind the camera is some sort of photo journalist-like filmmaker who takes this ride with the spirits and mumbles away a couple of lines, perhaps the vodka gave him a speech impediment and once you figure out that there is an absence of story or plot and that the people in costumes are not rehearsing a Shakespeare play but are actually dressed to represent a century-you end up wishing that you had a fast-forward feature on the armchair of your seat.

Sokurov obviously made this film with the implicit intentions of making an art film-but the idea of having a lifeless camera float around aimlessly for what seems like an eternity, or having a man behind a camera eavesdrop on a bunch of non-events is probably the most mind-numbing experience since Blade 2. Russian Ark might be a treasure to discover for Russian history buffs but for everyone else,-this is simply one of the most painful films to sit through.

Rating 0.5 stars