Review: Russian Ark
Sep. 2nd, 2007 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalI'm not going to bother with a summary or spoilers, given the nature of this. It isn't a documentary, but niether is it a dramatic feature. What it is, is a stunt. A bloody marvelous, utterly audacious stunt. Essentially Ark is a real time walking tour of St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum, the Russian equivilent to the Lourve. Using a Steadicam mounted digital camera, a backback full of batteries and a BIG hard drive, the entire movie is filmed in one, continous, uninterrupted 83 minute shot.
Our unseen Russian narrator finds himself transported there via mysterious circumstances, and is led along by a French Marquise from the 19th century, who offers a witty and cynical counterpoint to all of the marvelous art they see during their journey in and out of the museum, visiting some 35 rooms. Along the way they seem to bounce back and forth through time, seeing Peter the Great himself during one of his infamous rages, Catherine the Great directing one of her own plays in the Hermitage theater, and finally ending up in the Grand Ballroom, during the last ball of Nicolous II's reign prior to the revolution, ending in a shot of the guests leaving that involves literally thousands of costumed extras.
I'll admit much of this flew over my head. Unless you've got a degree in Russian history, Russian Art, or are Russian yourself, much of what you see won't make sense. But damn is it beautiful. And if you're a fan of Bujold's Vorkosigan series, I highly reccomend it just to get an idea of what the Winterfair Ball or the Emperor's Birthday celebration must look like to a Betan.
Our unseen Russian narrator finds himself transported there via mysterious circumstances, and is led along by a French Marquise from the 19th century, who offers a witty and cynical counterpoint to all of the marvelous art they see during their journey in and out of the museum, visiting some 35 rooms. Along the way they seem to bounce back and forth through time, seeing Peter the Great himself during one of his infamous rages, Catherine the Great directing one of her own plays in the Hermitage theater, and finally ending up in the Grand Ballroom, during the last ball of Nicolous II's reign prior to the revolution, ending in a shot of the guests leaving that involves literally thousands of costumed extras.
I'll admit much of this flew over my head. Unless you've got a degree in Russian history, Russian Art, or are Russian yourself, much of what you see won't make sense. But damn is it beautiful. And if you're a fan of Bujold's Vorkosigan series, I highly reccomend it just to get an idea of what the Winterfair Ball or the Emperor's Birthday celebration must look like to a Betan.
