Month: March 2017

"One shot is what it's all about," is a quote from Robert De Niro's character, Michael, in Deer Hunter. And that was the philosophy of director Alexsandr Sokurov’s vision of Russian Ark, an extremely unusual film for many reasons. This is an “art” film – quite literally, as well as in genre. Spoken in Russian, with subtitles, the entire movie is from the first hand point of view of a recently deceased unnamed man (voiced by the director) who finds himself following 19th century visitors into The Hermitage.

His companion is the ghost of the Marquis de Custine (played by Sergey Dreyden), a travelogue writer, much like a French mid 1800's Hemingway or an echo of Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. The two meander through 33 rooms, watching vignettes from 200/300 years of history unfold before their eyes. The Ark is, of course, the museum, established in 1754 with around 300 paintings from Catherine the Great’s personally purchased collection, now a museum with over 3 million items. The Hermitage has housed and protected culture through the oceanic storms of time, ignorance, war and revolutions. For a glimpse of the inside of The Hermitage alone, not to mention a terrific sampling of its artistic denizens, the movie is worth the 96 minute commitment. Many items were removed in advance of the filming, however, and many costumed guards were present during the filming, under the guise of extras. Four years of preparation, two THOUSAND actors, 3 orchestras, hundreds and hundreds of specially made incredibly vivid and detailed costumes, a customized wearable Steadicam, dozens of electricians to hide the lighting equipment, and the music of Glinka were used to create this unique look at both one of the oldest museums in history and to reenact snippets of key historical moments: the presentation of the Shah of Iran to Tzar Nicolas the First, apologizing for the death of a Russian ambassador; the ceremonial changing of the palace guard; a play being directed by Catherine the Great; a man building his own coffin during World War II; a temper tantrum by Peter I; all culminating in the last Imperial ball to be held there in 1913.

And on December 23, 2001 this movie was made in ONE…UNCUT…CONTINUOUS…SHOT. Ergo the title to this review. Although they made 4 abortive 5 minute starts, as the natural light started to fade, batteries started to wan, and a once in a lifetime permit from the institute expiring at the end of the day, they dove into the fifth and last take knowing it was literally … now or never. Sokurov yelled “Action” for the one and only time during the final cut of this film – and they DID NOT STOP. Unlike Hitchcock’s Rope there were no cheats. I’ll be honest, I watched closely for them but during the passing of, say, a wall, it was clear there were no cuts. This has only rarely been done with a feature length movie, for obvious technical and pragmatic reasons. Andy Warhol made an “experimental” film, Empire, just showing 8 hours of real time footage of the Empire State Building but even it was busted up into 10 – 43 minute reels. Then there is Timecode, an improvisationally acted oddity which displays four 93 minute points of view, filmed and shown simultaeously. And PVC-1 is 84 uncut minutes of a Columbian made crime drama, mostly made in remote areas and with a small ensemble cast. But Russian Ark was carefully directed, rehearsed, filmed, and involved a massive cast – daunting even for a conventional film maker – and required immediate clean up in this venerated establishment even as they began filming in the next room. Director Sokurov walked behind and out of view yelling instructions, advice and guidance to the actors as they went. Sound was added afterwards in post-production.

I don’t often mention crew, but this film could not have been made without the heroic – not to mention athletic – contribution of director of photography, cinematopgrapher and Steadicam operator/wearer Tilman Buttner. During an interview, Buttner, who had to schlepp 83 pounds of equipment non-stop for the entire 96 minute shoot, admitted that when they got to the last scene, he did not think he could physically continue. He said he was hurting in muscles he didn't know he had and was genuinely concerned he might do himself permanent harm if he continued. So he turned to his assistant and confessed he did not think he could film the last scene. Fortunately, the assistant misunderstood, thought Buttner was referring to the mass of costumed and dancing people in the last major scene and encouraged him with concentrating on the beauty of the moment. Buttner had never seen the set before and said when he did he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the costumes and dancers so that this final rush of adrenaline gave him the strength to finish the filming. This gives an idea of the arduous task the cast and crew had set before them. Sokurov has played with this theme before in Francofonia, where the ghost of Napoleon wanders through the Louvre pointing out works of art. But that was only an overture to this extremely ambitious outing and not done in one cut. For the history and visual stun alone I would recommend this movie. But to get the full benefit I would read about the movie first and perhaps listen to the interview with Sokurov about the making of Russian Ark called In One Breath.