Russian Ark

Finally got around to seeing this one after hearing so much about it from true film wonks for years. And you obviously have to be impressed by the ambitious nature of the film. What an incredible and novel undertaking. And it results in a dream like avalanche of intricate costuming, beautiful art work and architecture, and countless actors moving past you, in full claustrophobic splendor for 87 minutes. The film is a time machine immersing the viewer on a dizzying meandering roller coaster ride through 300 years of Russian history. I did feel like I needed a masters degree in Russian History to really understand everything I was seeing though and for a good bulk of the film it felt like there were things constantly going right over my head. Nor did I understand why sometimes they seemed to be invisible and sometimes people could see them. And who some of the other characters were who interacted with them.

These incidental points aside, the film did leave me with one overarching question. What was the point of it? Was it SIMPLY to successfully accomplish the near impossible 'one take' filming of an entire movie? Was it only about that one technical achievement and it happened to use the time machine tour of the Winter Palace as its vehicle? Sokurov seems to insist it wasnt about that. So then was it ONLY about making the statement that Russian culture and appreciation for art should not be discounted by the west as a joke or backward? Was it just one long propaganda piece? Surely that was at least an aspect. But I assume theres more going on. Theres statements being made about Russian politics and art and culture from the stand point of other Russians. But I feel like I missed all that if it was there. Ive watched and read a bunch of reviews since I saw the film and most of them just touch on the technical achievement and dont drill down on what else is going on in this film. So I figured I'd ask you guys if anyone was more familiar with Sokurov's intentions with this. And what I missed while I was mesmerized by its sheer impossible beauty.

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Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies...

Indeed. What a strange, but wonderful movie. mysterious to it's core. The first time I saw it I was actually unaware of it's one take novelty, it felt just like a regular movie although quite a strange one as it had almost no story, a character without much characterization and scenes which didn't follow up to each other. But it was also... really interesting to watch. Very intriguing. You follow the protagonist around eager to know at every corner what it will all come about, what are the connections, the tension, the climax, the conclusions, but it always fails to deliver, leaving a new lead to follow in a neverending arc.
After I read about the "oner" they had pulled off I, of course, was really impressed and rewatched it. The movie gained another layer of curiosity and cemented my respect for it. A truly remarkable feat.

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Panis et circenses

I've been meaning to see this for ages but forgot about it somehow. Thanks for the heads-up. I studied some Russian history in high school but nowhere near enough to cover 300 years.

Once you see it, definitely watch the 'making of' documentary IN ONE BREATH for further insight. Just the mind boggling logistics involved with pulling this off are almost incomprehensible. EVERYTHING has to work just perfectly. You cant have even one actor miss a line or stumble while dancing or have one light go off at the wrong time. 2000 actors all had to be costumed and in place as this film train rolled from one room to the next. 3 separate orchestras had to be in place and perform what amounted to essentially live performances where they couldnt screw up a note and they had to do it all in restrictive costuming from the 19th century! And they were doing this all onto disk not on tape. And they were down to their last few seconds of battery power when they finished. They had screwed up 3 times in the first 10 minutes of filming and had to start over each time and they all agreed if they screw up again they wouldnt be able to do it because they would lose too much light and they had time constraints set on them by the museum itself. One more problem and they would have to abandon the entire project. But the 4th try worked! For 87 straight minutes they held their breath and the camera operator thought he was going to suffer a herniated disk and wouldnt be able to continue. But they pulled it off somehow. The story of the making of the movie is like nail biting action thriller all by itself.

I'll be watching this Saturday or Sunday night. I'm intrigued, and have been since ordering the blu-ray a few months ago. I've just had such a big "to watch" list, it's been sitting there waiting.

I'm slowly getting into Russian cinema. Loved Tarkovsky's Solaris, and I'm checking out Stalker tonight. And I'm grabbing Mikhail Kalatozov's Letter Never Sent before Barnes and Noble ends their Criterion 50% off sale.

About your question, I think the film was made to show off the one-take technique AND the beautiful art of the Russians.