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64
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62
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61
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61
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58
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57
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57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55
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55
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55
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54
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54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
49
Hancock
48
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47
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44
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41
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37
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37
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37
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36
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36
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35
Jumper
34
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34
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33
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31
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24
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22
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xx
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xx
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xx
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84
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83
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82
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81
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80
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80
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79
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79
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79
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78
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76
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76
Shotgun Stories
75
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75
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74
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73
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72
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72
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72
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72
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71
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71
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71
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70
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70
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70
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70
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69
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69
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69
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68
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66
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64
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63
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63
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63
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62
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62
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62
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61
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61
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60
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60
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60
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59
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57
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56
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56
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56
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55
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55
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55
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55
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54
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53
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52
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52
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52
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52
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51
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51
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51
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49
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47
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45
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38
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Russian Ark
Wellspring Media
FILM:
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Sergei Dontsov,
Mariya Kuznetsova,
Leonid Mozgovoy,
David Giorgobiani,
Aleksandr Chaban,
and
Maksim Sergeyev
A unique panorama of the Hermitage, the most famous palace in Russia, now one of the great museums of the world.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Boris Khaimsky
Anatoli Nikiforov
Svetlana Proskurina
Aleksandr Sokurov
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Aleksandr Sokurov
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 9, 2003
Video: September 9, 2003
Theatrical: November 29, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
96 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Russia / Germany |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Russian (with English subtitles) |
Original Russian title "Russkij Kovcheg"; Visions Award, 2002 Toronto International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
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!?"

100
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Dramatically, this is something of a waking dream.

100
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.

100
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.

100
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Audacious, gorgeous and unique.

100
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
An astonishing technological feat, but what is even more remarkable is that the technology does not overwhelm the artistry.

100
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.

100
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
The result is a magnificent feast for the eyes and brain.

100
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.

100
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.

100
San Francisco Chronicle
Kenneth Baker
Marks a cinematic milestone.

100
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.

91
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.

90
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]
90
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
A magnificent conjuring act, an eerie historical mirage.

90
Variety
Deborah Young
Seems destined to go down in film history as a technical tour de force.

88
Miami Herald
Marta Barber
Even in its most tedious scenes, Russian Ark is mesmerizing.

83
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.

80
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.

80
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.

80
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Its a hyper-aestheticized meditation on the meaning of history, visually astonishing, dramatically stilted. No masterpiece, but quite a feat (and quite effete).

80
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Dazzling dance to the music of time.

78
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
A tour de force of modern cinema.

75
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
A technical and visual tour-de-force.

75
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.

70
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.

70
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.
70
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.

63
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.

63
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Sokurov, for all his accomplishment, is less a bold innovator than a raider of lost art.

20
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.


The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 37 User Votes
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