Hi to everybody...has anybody here seen 'The Russian Ark' directed by Alexander Sokurov? The entire film was shot in one take...and lasts around one and a half hours...
It starts off with a narrator revealing that he is dead and a ghost taking you round the Winter Palace aka the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and takes you on a journey through history meeting fictional and real characters as he wanders through the galleries and massive rooms until it climaxes with an astounding ending, which should knock you over when you realise that only one thing had to go wrong and the entire film would have been lost...
I got it for my birthday last year, and we watched it through scarcely believing that somebody had achieved this astonishing feat or that the cameraman had survived...he nearly collapsed with utter exhaustion but didn't, thank goodness...
If you haven't seen it, cast aside your expectations of a normal film... by that I mean what usually appears at your local cinema...because this film is nothing like these...you can be a bit confused at times as to what's going on because some subtitles are missed off probably deliberately and, unless you speak the language of the ghost, you're not going to know what's happening...but these instances are rare. Most of the time, you realise that you're going through a dream like state and seeing snippets of the past and present like a wonderful tableau...
See it just for the experience if nothing else, and I think you'll be amazed...
Big hugs to one and all...
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Prettyintelligentprincess
Pro - Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 22:37:49
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 22:43:25
Awful. I HATE it. Mother And Son is Sokurov's best in my opinion, followed by The Sun, Molock and Father And Son... then comes Confessions and Spiritual Voices - 2 very long documentary series.
The problem with Russian Ark is that it's a technical feat, not a film. The shifts in focus and zoom are horrid and distracting, there is only one character in the whole thing and ultimately, if you dont have an accute awareness of Russian culture then most of the film's finer points are lost.
I admire what he did, but i dont like it.-
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jenray
Pro - http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:04:58
Ah, now I've never heard of the other films, so will check them out...and hubby and I did fortunately know all of the characters that appeared in the film so weren't lost in that respect. I suppose if you were looking for a film using the usual camera shots and perspectives, you were going to be very disappointed with this one, but I cannot accept that it was awful...LOL...that's a bit harsh...didn't you find the ending amazing? I cried at the end because it was such a stunning achievement, hubby did as well...sorry you didn't see it that way, but then we can't all like the same things...
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:06:55
I don't remember much about the film to be honest. Nice costumes, but that's about all that i recall.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:15:19
Maybe if you watch it again if you haven't seen it for some time, you might see something different second time around
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:19:56
maybe, but understand that i am very cynical when it comes to films.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:36:40
I'm not cynical...I just long to see something really special and don't often, certainly not any more with the crap that's being given to us now from the USA and our own film industry...tend to go for World cinema now, and have seen some wonderful films from all round the world so it's still alive and well, just now here or in the States now...and what made you so cynical?..
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:37:44
seeing too many American films. I try to stick to European films now.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:41:57
yes, so do we...sick to death of American films now...
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:44:46
that's not to write off all American films though - there are some good ones occasionally ("There Will Be Blood", "I'm Not There" and "No Country For Old Men" are getting good press so far). Most of the American films i watch now are indie films like "Mysterious Skin", "The Brown Bunny" and "Wild Tigers I Have Known"
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 22:46:24
By the way, it took them several attempts to get it right. The first couple of goes ran into problems within the first 15 minutes (they already decided they could restart if something went wrong on the first or second attempt in the first 15 minutes of shooting). There was at least one film made before this that was filmed in one shot (i vaguely recall it was a mexican film that got a very limited release). Hitchcock's "Rope" tries to be a "one-shot" film for most of the runtime then gives up near the end.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:08:05
Yes, I watched the accompanying DVD about the making of the film so I did realise there were glitches but in the end, the film was made in one take...and I understood it was the first attempt at such a film but a film buff may know something different as you seem to be...
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SeasideMan
Pro - Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 10:03:55
Timecode, directed by Mike Figgis did this first and more adventurously. It is 90 minutes long and was filmed using 4 cameras and 4 cameramen in real time, with overlapping action. All 4 shots are shown simultaneously on the screen thoughout, each in its own quadrant of the screen. Timecode was 2000, Russian Ark 2002.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 14:28:28
Ah, Abel Ganz I think did something similar in 'Napoleon' in 1927...now, if you've never seen that epic of eight hours, they've only found seven hours of it, and we've seen it through in one sitting, you really have missed something....marvellous achievement...LOL...
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SeasideMan
Pro
- Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 14:53:36
Ah, but Ganz was limited by the 10-minute reel length, unlike Figgis who used 4 continuous simultaneous takes.
I saw a 3-hour version of Napoleon once and that was pretty good. Live pianist too!
Tom.-
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 16:51:04
Oh, that must have been a good experience...
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SeasideMan
Pro
- Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 16:55:50
It was. I saw Buster Keaton's the Cameraman with pianist last week too. Very good.
Tom. -
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- Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 @ 17:59:13
you know Kubrick wrote a script for Napoleon that never got made? One of the great un-made films along with Orson Welles' Don Quixote.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 @ 18:02:58
No, I didn't...hmmm...I wonder how many films had scripts already written and never found backers...bet there were thousands...we probably missed out on some wonderful films....
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SeasideMan
Pro
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 10:31:46
Yup, Stanley wasted several years on that failed project. I seem to remember Jack Nicholson was lined up to be in it.
It's more of a concern for me how the studio butchered Welles' film The Magnificent Ambersons, ans they actually destroyed the bits of film they chopped out of it!
Tom.-
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 10:40:05
I think it's been criminal how much ended up on the cutting room floor in so many films...I can understand the need for expert editing but the power of the studios was way out of line in what they could do with a film...Welles must have been gutted as probably were many other directors when they saw what had been done to their movies...depressing really...
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SeasideMan
Pro
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 11:58:50
It's the clash between artist (director) and producer (profiteer). Artistic value gets diminished by an attempt to make as much filthy lucre from it as possible.
Tom.-
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 12:40:04
the way of the world alas...that's why we so often get far less than is originally offered...same with books...edited to pieces often before accepted for publication...what you end up with is a meagre offering compared to the original...dumbing down seems to be the modern way of the world...hurts my brain...
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- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 18:31:24
with dvds now i think the whole recut thing is becoming ridiculous - look at Blade Runner.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 18:59:25
Yes, one of my favourite films seen it at least twelve or thirteen times if you include watching the director's cuts...I did love the original with the voice over, but I realise now that its happy ending did rather ruin the original story...and the unicorn addition in the middle one wasn't made clear until the final cut one when I realised Gaff was actually spelling out to Deckard that he was a replicant as well at the end...I always thought he was after he kissed Rachel in the first one...he kissed her in the same way as Roy Batty kissed Pris...I did get the box set...so now have everything on it...HLOL...for posterity...still love the film...one of the best sci-fi's ever made and hasn't aged...
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- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 18:28:49
Interestingly, it was the great Robert Wise who recut that film for RKO (Welles never worked again with RKO who he had produced Citizen Kane with). I guess a young Mr Wise was just doing his job - albeit while Welles was in Brazil. The stated reason for the cuts was that the preview audience gave such a bad reaction to the initial cut, but i wouldn't be surprised if the studio were just getting back at Welles for using up so much time and money. I kind of gather he picked his fights with the studios like Terry Gilliam does today.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 18:51:36
Well both have produced turkeys in their time and was, for Welles, and are, in the case of Gilliam, anarchic characters...and both knew how to pour oodles of money into their projects without regard for budgets...not sure whether that's wise on their part...it's been proven that great films can be made on reasonable budgets...but big ideas I guess demand limitless purses...LOL...
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- Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 @ 23:09:14
the difference however is that Gilliam's talent washed up years ago. Brazil, for him, was far more about his ego than anything to do with artistic freedom. Welles was an unmitigated genius. Will people be talking about Gillam in 60 years time? I doubt it very much.
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SeasideMan
Pro
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 22:47:18
I also have the dvd to this and I've watched it 3 times, but I really wish I'd seen it at the cinema!
As a technical feat it is astonishing. But, I do think that viewed simply as a film without that technical aspect, that it is somewhat flawed. It is alwas visually interesting, but I find the story flags in a few places.
I read somewhere that they got it on the 2nd take. Good job it didn't take them too many more!-
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:11:32
Yes, the story did slow down a bit in a couple of places, but I just accepted that it would occasionally do that...so do a lot of films...but still wouldn't have missed seeing it just for the experience....
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SeasideMan
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:43:13
Certainly lots of films do that and they are flawed too. Russian Ark was a triumph of form at the expense of a small amount of function, in my view.
It's a film I am happy to have seen, and it's better even than most films, but it falls short of greatness.
But this is just my view of course, and I thank you for mentioning the film so that we could talk about it. Are you a fan the films of Sokurov's fellow Russian Andrei Tarkovsky? He is my favourite director.
Tom.-
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:48:46
Yes, I do like Tarkovsky...I don't think I have a favourite director...I do like Pedro Aldomovar very much and Guillermo del Toro, and Kurosawa is another...but I've got a bad memory for names so tend to have to look them up again to remind me of who directed the films I've really enjoyed...LOL...gets that way when you hit sixty and more
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SeasideMan
Pro
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:50:04
I've seen and liked lots of Almodovar's films recently. I watched his latest film Volver last week and liked it.
I love talking about films :-)
Tom.-
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:56:55
Yes, so do I, but I've seen so many over the years, I wish I could remember all the ones I have seen...they've been many and very varied...LOL...
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:52:45
watching "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown " was probably the most fun i've ever had in a cinema. Seriously.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 00:01:50
Excellent film...time for bed for me...so goodnight to you...and nice talking to you...big hugs... -
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:51:09
Have you seen the Russian film called "The Return"? It's one of the best Russian films of recent years, recalling much of the photographic work of Tarkovsky. There's a similar film called Koktebel out which i was thoroughly unimpressed by.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 00:00:45
Yes, I did see it...very bleak...and low budget, but very watchable in the end...don't know the other one...and not too keen on Indie films you mentioned in another comment...those I've seen seem to be for the young and I find it hard to relate to those I've seen because of this or they're self indulgent and trying to be clever, which really puts me off...it's another world for me now..
There's a big age gap between us...LOL... -
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SeasideMan
Pro
- Monday, Feb. 18, 2008 @ 10:24:41
The Return is one I've been meaning to see but have so far failed to do so. Thanks for reminding me of it.
Tom. -
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Znethru
Pro - http://www.febland.net/
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:20:44
Yes, I've seen it - very 'arty' so therefore (I guess) not to everyone's taste! I enjoyed it but wouldn't necessarily recommend it!!
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:37:18
If you enjoyed it, why not recommend it? LOL...
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- Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 @ 23:42:11
I cant think of any other films set in a museum. There's a scene where the main characters run through the Louvre in Godard's "Bande à Part" (a scene referenced in Bertolucci's "The Dreamers") but that's it. If you set a film totally in one building then that puts quite a limit on what you can do.
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jimmycl
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 10:04:53
RUSSIAN ARK is one of the great films, and as a film editor I should not be saying that since there is not a single cut in it. There are dull passages, as in life, but the highspots are superb, particularly as this had to be done in one take (the cameraman nearly gave up at the 11th. hour. One can imagine all those actors and assistants waiting down line for the camera to appear...a logistical nightmare. I have seen other films by this director, but nothing he ever did was as good as this.
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 @ 10:20:31
Ah, glad somebody likes it as much as we did...thanks, Jimmy...
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No not seen it.