Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
Russian master Alexander Sokurov has tapped into the very flow of history itself for the flabbergasting Russian Ark. Thanks to the miracles of digital video, Sokurov (and cinematographer Tilman Buttner) uses a single, unbroken, 90-minute shot to wind his way through the Hermitage in St Petersburg--the repository of Russian art and the former home to royalty. Gliding through time, we glimpse Catherine II, modern-day museumgoers, and the doomed family of Nicholas II. History collapses on itself, as the opulence of the past and the horrors of the 20th century collide, and each door that opens onto yet another breathtaking gallery is another century to be heard from. The movie climaxes with a grand ball and thousands of extras, prompting thoughts of just how crazy Sokurov had to be to try a technical challenge like this--and how far a distance we've travelled, both physically and spiritually, since the movie began. --Robert Horton
Product Description
A groundbreaking feat of filmmaking, Alexander Sokurov's amazing journey through 300 years of Russian art and history is the first ever feature to be shot in a single, unedited take - the ultimate director's cut. Magically transported to St Petersburg's Hermitage museum in the early 1700s, a contemporary filmmaker and a cynical 19th Century French diplomat become accomplices in an extraordinary voyage through Russia's turbulent past to the present day. As they explore the splendid corridors and salons of the Palace, the two men witness prominent historical figures enacting startling scenes from the Tsarist Empire. Digitally shot with a state-of-the-art high definition steadicam and featuring a masterfully orchestrated cast of 2,000, Russian Ark is destined to stand as a defining moment of cinema history.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 65 people found the following review helpful
By Grady Harp
Format:DVD
Aleksandr Sokurov has created a unique, wondrous masterpiece of a film in his great homage of Russian history and art and the Hermitage Museum. Four years in the planning, a cast of thousands, exquisite reproductions of costumes that span the three hundred years of Russian history, and brilliant cinematography by the German Tilman Buttner, Sokurov has condensed the essence of Russian culture in a 90 minute non-stop 'live' filming within the halls of the Hermitage museum (all 5 palaces known as the winter palaces of the Tsars). The result is an enchanting, bewitching, meandering tour of Russian from the time of Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, Pushkin, the Romanovs - Nicholas I and II - to the final ball in the palace the night Tsarist Russia ended. Our tour guide is the off camera voice of Sokurov in conversation with a French Marquis and assorted ghosts of the past as we seamlessly view glimpses of Russia's past, scenes like an actual play that Catherine the Great wrote and watched, the writer Pushkin, the Romanov family at their last supper in the palace and the grand ball that culminates this stage of the glory of Russia. The ballroom scene is resplendent with vast numbers of costumed actors dancing a mazurka to the music (Glinka's mazurka from his opera 'The Life of the Tsar') provided by the Maryinski Orchestra conducted by no less than Valery Gergiev! As the guests finally leave the Hermitage museum the camera focuses on an open window overlooking the sea on which the city of St Peterburg floats.... Read more ›
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By ShiDaDao Ph.D
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
This is probably the most beautiful art film ever made. It holds the distinction of being the first and only cinematic event to date, to be filmed in one single 96 minute take. As a consequence, there is no editing. The cast of 2000 supporting actors had to perform on cue, as the camera and director moved through the many rooms and buildings that comprise the St Petersburg's Hermitage. Once filming began the project had to unfold exactly to plan. The result is stunning on many levels. The grasp of the moment is so perfect, that one is left with a sense of utter eternity that renders the need for all other explanation superfluous. To be present, and to be a witness - is enough. The film was made on the 23rd of December 2001 and released in the cinema in 2002. This DVD version was released in 2003.
The film travels throughout the Winter Palace, which is the main building of the Russian State Hermitage Museum. This musuem is made-up of six buildings:
1) The Winter Palace.
2) The Small Hermitage.
3) The Old Hermitage.
4) The New Hermitage.
5) The Hermitage Theatre.
6) The Reserve House.
The film covers 300 years of Russian art and artistic culture. Each room the camera enters, plunges the unsuspecting audience into a different Russian year, dynasty and existential environment. The Director - Alexander Sokurov - narrates the entire film through a disembodied voice. Infact, the events of the film are viewed only through the eyes of this unnamed character. He is Russian of course, but there is an implication that he may have died in an accident. The other main character throughout is a Frenchman (played by the actor Sergei Dreiden), usually referred to as 'the European', whose character is called the Marquis de Custine.... Read more ›
The film travels throughout the Winter Palace, which is the main building of the Russian State Hermitage Museum. This musuem is made-up of six buildings:
1) The Winter Palace.
2) The Small Hermitage.
3) The Old Hermitage.
4) The New Hermitage.
5) The Hermitage Theatre.
6) The Reserve House.
The film covers 300 years of Russian art and artistic culture. Each room the camera enters, plunges the unsuspecting audience into a different Russian year, dynasty and existential environment. The Director - Alexander Sokurov - narrates the entire film through a disembodied voice. Infact, the events of the film are viewed only through the eyes of this unnamed character. He is Russian of course, but there is an implication that he may have died in an accident. The other main character throughout is a Frenchman (played by the actor Sergei Dreiden), usually referred to as 'the European', whose character is called the Marquis de Custine.... Read more ›
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By John Corbett
Format:DVD
This Alexander Sokurov feature is one of the most staggering technical achievements in the history of cinema - a single shot lasting 95 minutes while moving through 33 rooms in the world's largest museum, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg (which also encompasses the Winter Palace). Part pageant and museum tour, part theme-park ride and historical meditation, it covers two centuries of czarist Russia as smoothly as it crosses the Hermitage and even periodically moves outside of it, with the offscreen Sorukov engaged in an ongoing dialogue with an on-screen 19th-century French diplomat (apparently suggested by Adolphe, marquis de Custine).
Sokurov used close to 2,000 actors and extra and three live orchestras in making what may be the world's only unedited single-take feature as well as the longest Steadicam sequence ever shot. (Reportedly only one previous take of the sequence was even attempted, after lengthy and detailed rehearsals of all the participants, and it apparently failed due to the subdegree temperature outside.) Russian Ark is also the first uncompressed high-definition film recorded on a portable hard-disk system rather than on film or tape before being transferred to 35mm, and, along with Sokurov's earlier innovative experiments with optical distortions and perspective in features such as Whispering Pages (1993) and Mother and Son (1997), it marks him as a kind of 19th-century modernist - a filmmaker who, like Manoel De Oliveira in a very different way, combines an acute sense of the past with a very up-to-date sense of how to convey it.
As one critic has suggested, Russian Ark is an anti-October, challenging Sergei Eisenstein's reliance on montage while using the Winter Palace as a gigantic set.
... Read more ›
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 156 reviews
3.8 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Corridors of Time
After regaining consciousness from an undisclosed accident, a man opens his eyes to find himself in the Hermitage Museum, completely without any memory as to what brought him... Read more
Published 12 hours ago by Tetsuo
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surprisingly brilliant film
A French diplomat (why are the ironic ones always French?) wonders through rooms in the Hermitage Palace in St. Petersburg while bringing us on a journey through Russian history. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Norah O Reilly
1.0 out of 5 stars
Did not like AT ALL! BORING!
The idea of the film is good..but to my mind they had a wonderful idea and made a horrible film! There is no plot whatsoever..I dont evem know what they wanted to show.. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Margarita
5.0 out of 5 stars
"A magnificent homage to humanity, art, culture and history..."
Russian screenwriter and director Alexandr Sokurov`s eleventh feature film which he co-wrote with Anatoly Nikiforov, Russian screenwriter and director Svetlana Proskurina and Boris... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Sindri
4.0 out of 5 stars
A living portrait of indoors Russian history
Surely a unique film and like another reviewer I got a certain frisson from seeing Gergiev at the helm of th Mariinsky orchestra in the ballroom scene. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Philoctetes
4.0 out of 5 stars
Artistic and unique
I first saw this on Tv quite recently - and loved it so much I bought it. A delight. Unusual, creative and offering glimpses inside 'The Hermitage'. Recommended
Published on 27 Feb 2011 by Grand Ma
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Tour de Force from all angles!
Great concept, great acting, direction and concept; superb.
How to be a Steady Cam operator, hold and develop your shot
over 90 minutes!! without a hickup!! Read more
How to be a Steady Cam operator, hold and develop your shot
over 90 minutes!! without a hickup!! Read more
Published on 6 April 2010 by Mr. W. A. Nuttall
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bemused
I bought this film for three reasons. I like to watch foreign movies to see other cultures views of the world, I found the idea of a single take fascinating and finaly, my wife is... Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2010 by K. Kenny
2.0 out of 5 stars
Well, that was... interesting
Ok, so we get that the one shot idea is amazing, but does that really matter if the content is bland, and at times very confusing? Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2009 by Pippa
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Technical Achievement - OK as spectacle
I bought this film as it seemed an intriguing concept. The whole 90 or so minutes shot continuously without editing. Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by FelixP
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
