Wow. Well, I wanted to like this film. I'd looked at the DVD cover many times in the library when it had been returned and thought it looked interesting. While parts of it were entertaining/interesting, for the most part I found this extremely hard to get through.
I kind of felt like I was touring the Winter Palace as part of a guided group...one where you have to follow at the pace of the person leading. I'm someone who likes to go on my own, at MY own pace. The camera spent so much time on things I wasn't interested in, and hurried through the things I was.
While I appreciate the purpose of the movie, and concede many positive aspects, the anticlimactic plot left me a lot to be desired. The costumes were beautiful, the interior decorations opulent, the party preparations and dinner settings up interesting...and the final ball scene was superb. The whole mazurka, the costumes, dancing AND the music, were, to me, the most interesting parts.
The final line, "destined to sail forever, to live forever" I'm thinking was a summary of the entire film, and the future of St. Petersburg. Like I said, I appreciate the film, and am glad to have seen it, but it was not one of my favorites from what we've watched.
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My blog for my Russian Cinema class.
Movies I Love, And You Should See
- A Mighty Wind
- Alegria
- Auntie Mame
- Beauty and the Beast
- Best in Show
- Breakfast Club
- Bunhongsin (aka The Red Shoes)
- Death to Smoochy
- Everything is Illuminated
- Harold and Maude
- Labyrinth
- Mirrormask
- Pride & Prejudice (A&E version)
- Princess Bride
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
- Singin' in the Rain
- Spinal Tap
- Stranger Than Fiction
- Sunset Blvd
- Ushpizin
Me!
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2008
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- Russian Ark
- The Return
- Vladimir Garin
- Brother
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- Kidnapping Caucasion Style, or Shurik's New Advent...
- Mirror
- Ballad of a Soldier
- Ivan the Terrible, Part I
- Burnt by the Sun
- Circus
- Chapaev
- The Man With the Movie Camera
- Potemkin II
- Battleship Potemkin
- The Irony of Fate
- First post
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2 comments:
I tend to agree that there is a claustrophobic nature to the film, almost as if you are being held hostage by a snail... That's why when I watch the film I tend to focus more on the interplay between Custine and the narrator (spoken by the director Sokurov himself)--not because what they say is that brilliant, but I like the way their vocies overlayer and interact with each other. But I also do agree that the ball scene is really pretty incredible--plus I do like the way it ends with them filing all out toward the end.
I'm with you on finding the film to be similar to a tour- to counteract that I found myself concentrating on the costumes and interior, which I found amazing. Also, that last scene with them all filing out gave me a glimpse of just how many people (and the people who made it happen) it took to produce this film.
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