Russian Ark -- IMPORTANT REVIEW

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Man With a Digital Movie Camera
by James Verniere
Friday, February 28, 2003
Boston Herald

``Russian Ark.'' Not rated. In Russian with English subtitles. At the Embassy Cinema and Brattle Theatre.

Russia, the birthplace of montage - the artful assembling of edited film images to compress action, suggest the passage of time and evoke emotional responses - now gives us a film shot in a single, continuous take. So much for ``Potemkin.''
Alexander Sokurov, the director of such films as ``Mother and Son'' and ``Moloch,'' is nothing if not bold, and his boldness is refreshing at a time when movies are increasingly interchangeable commercial entities. Arguably an arthouse ``Blair Witch Project'' (a film with a gimmick unique to the medium of film), ``Russian Ark'' is set in the 18th century and begins, probably inevitably, at the beginning of a festive gathering at the Hermitage palace and museum in St. Petersburg.
The technique is breathtaking. Sokurov, his cast and characters - a contemporary filmmaker behind the camera and, in front, a 19th century French diplomat known as the Marquis (Sergey Dreiden), both magically transported to the setting - and especially cinematographer Tilman Buttner of ``Run Lola Run'' must perform a high-wire act in a straitjacket.
Whatever happens - a sneeze, a stumble, a locked door - you name it, the film is literally on the clock, and the camera must keep rolling. While perhaps more an intellectual exercise than a genuine movie, ``Russian Ark'' is often reminiscent of Fellini's elegiac ``And the Ship Sails On.'' Because it addresses elemental issues, ``Russian Ark'' is also a reminder of D.W. Griffith's development of ``cutting'' techniques and their evolution into a new, storytelling method unique to motion pictures. Some may moreover recall the visionary Georges Melies' serendipitous discovery that even rudimentary cuts made magic possible on film, thereby inventing special effects.
``Russian Ark'' comprises 98 minutes of action and, even more importantly, 4,265 feet of distance, since it is, on one level, the equivalent of a forced march from beginning to end.
As we stroll alongside the Marquis past the Hermitage's Rembrandts and da Vincis, we take a peep at Peter the Great flogging one of his generals, Catherine the Great searching for a lavatory and the doomed last tsar and his family sitting down to dinner. In a marvelous evocation of the nimble timing and footwork required of Sokurov, hundreds of dancers in lavish period costume waltz at the Last Royal Ball of 1913 with Valery Gergiev conducting. (The film features three live orchestras.)
It's a voyage through time and space using a 24p High Definition camera mounted on a Steadicam-mechanism with a portable hard disk drive to store the images. The gently undulating nature of the Steadicam actually adds to the sense of buoyancy, of a vast object floating through the cosmos. (Sokurov's conceit is Hermitage equals spatial-temporal ``ark.'')
Such experiments have been made before. Alfred Hitchcock's ``Rope'' (1948) was shot in 10-minute takes that dissolve into one another to create the illusion of a single, seamless performance. Brian De Palma's elongated, uninterrupted opening shots, including the one in his amusingly trashy, recent release ``Femme Fatale,'' have become his stylistic signature.
But no one has had the nerve to try it on such a scale. Like Dziga Vertov's landmark ``Man With a Movie Camera,'' the greatest performances in ``Russian Ark'' are given by the camera and camera operator. By relinquishing his ability to manipulate time, Sokurov becomes a willing slave to it, and in the process transforms filmmaking into a species of digitized dance - movement and music in time and space. On this level, the camera is his Nijinsky and ``Russian Ark'' may be a new form of Russian ballet.

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Topic - Russian Ark -- IMPORTANT REVIEW - clarkjohnsen 11:24:45 03/02/03 (2)

Opening in my city soon... - Harmonia 20:06:37 03/03/03 (0)

Very interessting, thank you ! nt - patrickU 07:44:25 03/03/03 (0)

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