Watch Russian Ark For Free

Sorry, this movie sucks

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The first time I watched this film I was mesmerised by the sheer daring of the technique. When I watched it for the second time I picked up rather more of the content while remaining lost in admiration for the brilliant execution. I find it an absolutely captivating experience, and a profound reflection on Russian history and culture. The long final scene on the stairs is almost too moving, in the light of Russian history in the 20th c. Dreiden, Sokurov and Buettner deserve the highest praise and while this film is not to all tastes, for me it is one of the greats. Terrific playing by the orchestra under Gergiev's baton. In an age of meretricious film-making, this is a beacon of inspiration

A film in one take! Of course let's not forget Murnau and "The Last Laugh" made 75 years before. It is a technical feat to be sure but it runs out of steam not too long into the film. We figure the trick out early on and visually, the film just seems to ramble. It feels at times like a guided tour of a huge museum where there so much great art the mind simply turns off. Trying to fit a plot of sorts into such a project is hard enough as it is, but an uninteresting story line... I enjoy long takes - please don't get me wrong on that issue - but we have been spoiled by some virtuoso directors who can use them and cut brilliantly as well. Bravo for the technique but one viewing was more than enough.Curtis Stotlar

(Please excuse my poor English) There is no way to deny the presence of montage in Russian Ark. Even though the film is a single long take, and the editing afterwards does not change the film narrative, there is a structure in the film that would not be capable of becoming solid without the concept of montage that we know thanks to Eisenstein. On the book The Making Of Film Sense, by Eisenstein, he explains the montage of a film, and discusses how the montage is about a lot of things, not just the editing after the shooting. Eisenstein explains how the structure of the film is constructed like a music in an orchestral score. This score has its vertical structure and its horizontal structure. The horizontal structure is where the music is developed, but the vertical structure provides a interlink between the horizontals structures, making a complex and harmonic music movement. If you add visual images in the horizontal structure you have the same effect as in music, where the parts are conducted by the vertical structured that links all the horizontal images and sounds, creating a sequence in a movie. These structures are made for the spectator to understand the information that the film is trying to pass, by developing a subject (horizontal) and connecting its parts with each other (vertical). Eisenstein discusses about what guides the spectator through these structures, and make clear that the montage is not only about the EDITING process, but is also how the author (director, screenwriter) creates emotions, giving to the spectator information like the smells, the light, colors, etc. These information will create a sense in the spectator about the movie and will guide him through it. The montage is also in the process of making the "mise en scene", not only editing the film afterwards. So for sure Russian Ark is a movie Eisenstein-like. :)

little more than a museum tour, original trip in Russia past, impressive at all, it is , like each of his films, expression of Sokurov ambition. recreate a lost world, making a kind of documentary who seems a lot with the unique pleasure of book with pictures from childhood, it is not a history lesson, a national manifesto, analysis of good/bad parts from Russian civilization or introduction in the treasure of Ermitaj - few scenes - the El Greco Peter and Paul or the blind lady are really special - but an admirable occasion to reflect about levels of a society. the dance scenes are top of film. the French marquise is image of common meeting with past as refuge and danger. n impeccable show and a parable film. at first sigh, improvisation or a game. in essence, only a testimony.