Russian Ark (2002)

Cautiously Recommended

Russia/Germany/France/Japan/Canada/Finland/Denmark

Feature Film

Original Title: Русский ковчег

Director: Aleksandr Sokurov

Writers: Anatoli Nikiforov, Aleksandr Sokurov, Boris Khaimsky, Svetlana Proskurina

Cinematographer: Tilman Büttner

Composer: Sergei Yevtushenko

Cast: Sergei Dreiden, Aleksandr Sokurov

Composed of one continuous steadycam shot, Sokurov’s spectacular film guides us through 33 rooms of the Russian State Hermitage Museum, introducing us to key figures from 300 years of Russian history, letting us briefly peruse great works of art alongside a mysterious stranger, but whilst the logistics of all this are truly stunning the film itself is not reverent enough to inform, irreverent enough to entertain, or human enough to touch the emotions. Iain.Stott