On a related note... (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Saturday, January 07, 2017, 19:04 (2876 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Cody, have you seen Russian Ark? It's a fascinating movie, both in terms of the film itself and how it was made. It's an interesting case, because the unique way the film was made becomes apparent simply by watching it.

The entire movie (96 minutes) is a single POV shot. No cuts or edits of any kind. It was filmed in the Winter Palace of the Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg. The film is about 2 ghosts (one russian, the other french) that are exploring the museum and reflecting on Russia's history. Because they're ghosts, they're not stuck to any specific point in time. So as they walk through the museum, they are also moving from one historical moment to the next. So there are hundreds of extras used to recreate all these different moments of history throughout the museum, while the 2 ghosts walk through all these scenes and discuss them together.

It's amazing that they pulled it off, and it actually works quite well regardless of the film-making process. We see everything from the russian ghost's POV, so we never see him, but we're constantly hearing his thoughts on the historic moments he is witnessing. The French ghost acts as a sort of counterpoint; a European's perspective on Russian history. There's a lot of interesting interplay between the two. It's also a challenging movie to watch. Without any cuts, your eyes never get a moment to rest. Watching this movie was the first time I truly appreciated the way properly-timed cuts are the film equivalent of "taking a breath". Well when you watch this movie, your eyes don't get to take a breath for an hour and a half. It's exhausting, but totally worth seeing.