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Russian Ark
Universal acclaim
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 38 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Boris Khaimsky
Anatoli Nikiforov
Svetlana Proskurina
Aleksandr Sokurov
Directed by: Aleksandr Sokurov
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 29, 2002
DVD: September 9, 2003
Running Time: 96 minutes, Color
Origin: Russia / Germany
Language(s): Russian (with English subtitles)
Summary
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.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Father and Son
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
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!?"
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Dramatically, this is something of a waking dream.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
An astonishing technological feat, but what is even more remarkable is that the technology does not overwhelm the artistry.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
The result is a magnificent feast for the eyes and brain.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Variety Deborah Young
Seems destined to go down in film history as a technical tour de force.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
Even in its most tedious scenes, Russian Ark is mesmerizing.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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).
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Sokurov, for all his accomplishment, is less a bold innovator than a raider of lost art.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Gabor A. gave it a3:
Russian history? The only thing i learned during the duration of this movie was that all russian men have some form of facial hair. 90 minute art display/fasion show with a silly, unexplained surreal twist.
Dave S. gave it a10:
I woke up and it was all a dream.
Luke S. gave it a 9:
Nothing like this has been done before. The viewer is sucked into a journey of discovery - you live the dream that anyone who has travelled will know: the desire to have seen history as it unfolded.
John S. gave it a 2:
A perfect example of why critics go to the "cinema" and the rest of us go to the movies. Reminds me of those silly modern art pieces that everyone else laughs at while the art critics drool all over themselves. Save your money hours of your life and just rent a PBS documentary on the Hermitage.
Holly W. gave it an 8:
A visual feast, and as good meals go, there is no choice but to enjoy it without a plot or particular end in mind. as the fine arts go, there is much to be had within the film and for the lover of the creative, the way it is filmed makes you feel like you're actually there: you feel the cold and silent snow, you turn your head as you alight staircases, you can't see over the shoulder of the man in front of you, and you shove your way out of the grand hall after the ball. titillating and brilliant, and particularly rich for those who know the particulars of russian history.
David B. gave it a 1:
I like some experimental movies. Heck, I liked "Gerry" a lot! But this... maybe if one was either 1) a Russian or 2) a historian of Russia it would be interesting. Okay, so they made a movie in one long shot. Good job there! So what? That's the only thing of interest about this film. When there's no plot, the rest of the film better be pretty engrossing. Take MY DINNER WITH ANDRE as counterpoint. I like that film pretty well. To me, RUSSIAN ARK is like MY DINNER WITH ANDRE. Except every sentence starts, "Remember that time in Russian history when..." A disaster. I guess you love it or hate it. I hate it.
Daniel W. gave it a 2:
It's happened before and it will undoubtedly happen again, that I go and watch a movie with raving reviews, only to find myself very bored and wondering why am I not getting it? I usually find I agree with the direction the reviews go in, not this time and I knew the film would be somewhat experimental. I didn't understand what the movie was trying to say. To me there didn't seem to be a point. If the aim was to make a kind of documentary about the Hermitage I could think of ways in which that could have been done in a much more interesting fashion. The big costumed ball scene didn't do anything for me either. As an aside, watching the credits, I couldn't help but wonder why it is that at least three German authorities had financially supported the making of this Russian film?
