87
Metascore
32 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100VarietyDeborah YoungVarietyDeborah YoungSeems destined to go down in film history as a technical tour de force.
- 100TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissA coda that will have the movie's audience gasping in exhilarated exhaustion, whispering astonished gratitude to Sokurov for having created vigorous art out of 21st century video technique and asking themselves, "What's the Russian word for Wow!?"
- 100Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonDramatically, this is something of a waking dream.
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe film is a glorious experience to witness, not least because, knowing the technique and understanding how much depends on every moment, we almost hold our breath.
- 100L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyHigh art, low comedy, hard labor and royal prerogative are here thrown together in an elegant unity, a breathtaking demonstration of Russian cinematic -- hence artistic -- brilliance.
- 88Miami HeraldMarta BarberMiami HeraldMarta BarberEven in its most tedious scenes, Russian Ark is mesmerizing.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt was only with the advent of digital technology that the notion of an entire film done in a single take became possible. Mike Figgis got there first with ''Time Code,'' and now the Russian director Alexander Sokurov has brought off a comparably startling feat with Russian Ark.
- 80Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesChicago ReaderJ.R. JonesThe problem with these feats is that they threaten to overwhelm the film's content, both as complex historical commentary and as aesthetic and theoretical gesture.
- 75New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanA technical and visual tour-de-force.
- 70The New RepublicStanley KauffmannThe New RepublicStanley KauffmannSubstantively there is no content. Everything we see or hear engages us only as part of a directorial tour de force. That force is exceptional, but since there is not much more to the picture, it leaves us hungry.