Russian Ark (spoiler? sort of)
Julia Altshuler
ending, but it is possible that my guess at an interpretation could be a
spoiler. I'm hoping people who have seen the movie read this post. (That was
sort of a spoiler warning, not really sure.)
Jim and I got out of Russian Ark with him looking at me hoping for an
explanation while I did the same to him. The best I could come up with is that
an ark is a large self-contained vessel designed to preserve remnants of a past
world with the intent of repopulating the next after large scale destruction.
So the Russian Ark (The Hermitage Palace/Museum) contains all these masterpieces
of art taken out of context and set aside like animals who came in by twosies.
The narrator comes to terms with history. I've never studied art history, but I
love art museums. I wander from painting to painting reading the little blurbs
next to each one and getting tiny bits of historical information about one duke
who commissioned a painting for one purpose and another king who commissioned a
painting for another. The movie is a little like that with the paintings not at
all arranged in chronological order.
The business of shooting the entire movie in one sweeping take is cool. I'm not
sure if that adds to the overall effect or not. The camera never stops moving
which I normally hate. It isn't quite as nauseating as a jerky hand held
camera, but I still prefer the camera to stay still while the actors move rather
than the other way around.
As a rule, I love costume dramas, and this certainly has costumes, lots and lots
of gorgeous gowns, very pretty people. As for drama, that's anyone's guess.
I'm trying to decide if I liked the movie. Usually that's not a hard question.
I didn't hate it, didn't walk out or fall asleep. It held my interest well
enough while I was trying to figure it out, but I can't say I liked it. Maybe I
should give up on all non-linear movies that abandon traditional plot and
character structures as simply not for me. Maybe I should take "dreamlike" as a
cue to see something else.
I also wonder if I would have gotten something more from the movie if I were at
all familiar with Russian history.
--Lia