The fluid motion is astounding on any number of levels -- including the physical demands made on Büttner -- and it implies in its wake the intractable, irreversible flow of history.
Comment
12/13/02
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Russian Ark (2002)
88
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:93
Fresh:82
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.8/10
Consensus: As successful as it is ambitious, Russian Ark condenses three centuries of Russian history into a single, uninterrupted, 87-minute take.
Theatrical Release:Dec 13, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $2,107,387
Synopsis: A visually hypnotizing cinematic feat, RUSSIAN ARK is Alexsandr Sokurov's spellbinding ode to St. Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum. Shot in one fluid take using High Definition video cameras,... [More]
Starring: Sergey Dreiden, Maria Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy, Mikhail Piotrovsky
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
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Reviews for Russian Ark
Top CriticGives an intriguing if fragmented view of Russian history viewed through the extraordinary cinematography of Tilman Buttner.
12/13/02
More than a technical achievement, Russian Ark serves as passionate elegy and the best history lesson you'll see all year.
12/13/02
One of the most dazzlingly beautiful movies ever made.
12/13/02
A magnificent feast for the eyes and brain.
12/13/02
Sokurov's 'incompletions' are more interesting than many well-polished items.
12/11/02
Top CriticThe choreography, the technical wizardry, is so impressive that I have to recommend it.
12/09/02
Top CriticUma coisa é certa: Arca Russa já entrou para a História do Cinema como uma obra inesquecível.
11/29/02
The movie is a meditation on the love and envy that Russia has always felt toward Europe, and I won't pretend I got more than 30 percent of what was going on.
11/27/02
Top CriticBlithely anachronistic and slyly achronological.
11/26/02
Top CriticA magnificent conjuring act, an eerie historical mirage evoked in a single sweeping wave of the hand by Alexander Sokurov.
10/24/02
Top CriticThe most hopelessly monotonous film of the year, noteworthy only for the gimmick of being filmed as a single unbroken 87-minute take.
10/14/02
A marvel like none you've seen.
10/02/02
Watching this movie is like visiting a museum with two fey tour guides who lack any real insight.
09/30/02
An enchanting film that presents an audacious tour of the past and takes within its warm embrace the bounties of cultural artifacts inside St.Petersburg's Hermitage Museum.
09/29/02
As an autocritique of how to celebrate a rich yet troubled cultural heritage, Russian Ark poses interesting questions in a dreamlike fashion that is indeed cinematic.
09/26/02
Even before it builds up to its insanely staged ballroom scene, in which 3000 actors appear in full regalia, it's waltzed itself into the art film pantheon.
09/18/02
The film's heady yet far from impenetrable theory suggests that Russians take comfort in their closed-off nationalist reality.
09/13/02
This movie in a single breath goes to the very heart of the Russian experience.
09/11/02
Top CriticA mature, deeply felt fantasy of a director's travel through 300 years of Russian history.
09/09/02
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