| Russian
Ark Review: Bren O'Callaghan |
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| Russian
Ark |
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There
has been an accident. Shouting, screams… then nothing. |
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A
filmmaker regains consciousness to find himself behind the lens of
a camera outside the Hermitage in St Petersburg: a vast, cavernous
museum of almost obscene opulence. A former palace having stood for
centuries, the underwater ambience ensnares the whispers and intangible
witness of the entire span of Russian history.
He
has stumbled in time to arrive on the eve of the last Great Royal
Ball of 1913, and as the guests arrive the doors swing open and they
- and we - slip inside.
For the next 95 minutes the audience bear testimony to a cinematic
first. An entire film encapsulated within a single, uncut steadicam
shot, the first of its kind. Sweeping between antechambers and salons,
corridors and ballrooms, taking in moments of both blunt intimacy
and ostentatious ceremony.
Granted access to the Hermitage for a single day, director and unseen
narrator Sokurov undertook months of rehearsals; manipulating 867
actors, hundreds more extras, 22 assistant directors and the development
of a prototype digital video hard drive capable of recording up to
100 minutes of uncompressed footage. Incredibly, he achieved a full
run-through on only the third attempt, and the result is astonishing.
Dazed, Sokurov is soon joined by another interloper. A cynical French
diplomat from the 19th Century (Dreiden), the pair make uneasy companions.
Only occasionally are other characters aware of their presence, and
when they are, they too transpire to be travellers in time. A blind
angel waxes lyrical on paintings that she cannot see; two old men
sat among 21st Century tourists appear to be past their dead-by-date;
and assorted watchmen, seers and mediums point the way ever onward.
Trapped within a bubble, borne aloft upon the sighs of sleeping ghosts,
had this been edited in the traditional manner the result would have
been intriguing but ultimately without resonance.
Russian
Ark will sail into cinematic history. All aboard for the debut voyage.
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