Russian Ark

Time Richard Corliss

A coda that will have the movie's audience gasping in exhilarated exhaustion, whispering astonished gratitude to Sokurov for having created vigorous art out of 21st century video technique and asking themselves, "What's the Russian word for Wow!?"

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Dramatically, this is something of a waking dream.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film is a glorious experience to witness, not least because, knowing the technique and understanding how much depends on every moment, we almost hold our breath.

LA Weekly Henry Sheehan

High art, low comedy, hard labor and royal prerogative are here thrown together in an elegant unity, a breathtaking demonstration of Russian cinematic -- hence artistic -- brilliance.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Audacious, gorgeous and unique.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

An astonishing technological feat, but what is even more remarkable is that the technology does not overwhelm the artistry.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Who most of these exquisitely costumed people are I have no idea, but they brush past the camera in such rapids of jubilation it's a wonder they don't knock the thing over. I watched most of the film exhilarated, but depressed that I'm not a big Russophile.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The result is a magnificent feast for the eyes and brain.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Extraordinary film, one that, like the museum itself, captures and shows three centuries of Russian culture and history in all its beauty, confusion, terror and majesty.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Well worth seeing on the wide screen before its video release next year. It's guaranteed to take your breath away.

San Francisco Chronicle Kenneth Baker

Marks a cinematic milestone.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Turns out to be more than simply a near-miracle of filmmaking, however; it is also an astonishing work of art, a historical epic that drifts through one's consciousness like a reverie.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

That rare thing at the movies these days: a new experience. It awes us with its technological feat, it sweeps us up in its mystical spell and, with its final scene -- it takes us to an emotional climax of almost unbearable poignancy.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

By the time of the closing shot -- twists of fog rising like spectres from a leaden sea -- even the most stubborn viewer will be lying back in a state of happy hypnosis. [16 December 2002, p. 106]

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A magnificent conjuring act, an eerie historical mirage.

Variety Deborah Young

Seems destined to go down in film history as a technical tour de force.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Even in its most tedious scenes, Russian Ark is mesmerizing.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It was only with the advent of digital technology that the notion of an entire film done in a single take became possible. Mike Figgis got there first with ''Time Code,'' and now the Russian director Alexander Sokurov has brought off a comparably startling feat with Russian Ark.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The problem with these feats is that they threaten to overwhelm the film's content, both as complex historical commentary and as aesthetic and theoretical gesture.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The final effect, particularly the climactic ballroom sequence, is astonishing -- a haunting impression of the vast synchronicity of unbroken time that must surely stand as one of the great achievements in the development of the movie medium.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

It’s a hyper-aestheticized meditation on the meaning of history, visually astonishing, dramatically stilted. No masterpiece, but quite a feat (and quite effete).

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Dazzling dance to the music of time.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A tour de force of modern cinema.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

A technical and visual tour-de-force.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The first movie I'd have enjoyed more asleep. That's not because it put me to sleep, but because it may be the most dreamlike film I've ever seen.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Substantively there is no content. Everything we see or hear engages us only as part of a directorial tour de force. That force is exceptional, but since there is not much more to the picture, it leaves us hungry.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

By turns intriguing, boring, frustrating, amazing and stirring, this is a tour de force that, necessarily, lacks dramatic force, but one that creates a dream state of seemingly limitless dimensions.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

For the truth is, given the audacity, the organization, the seriousness of purpose, the movie isn't nearly as provocative as you think it might be.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's a cinematic feat, an art lover's dream, but as a moviegoing experience, Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark is something of a letdown.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Sokurov, for all his accomplishment, is less a bold innovator than a raider of lost art.

Film Threat Phil Hall

Little more than a travelogue designed to show off the grandeur of the Hermitage, with the silly actors in fancy costumes getting in the way of the paintings and sculptures on display.