Russian Ark
Known for being shot in a single 96 minute Steadicam sequence, director Alexander Sokurov's 'masterpiece' took four attempts to complete. With over 2,000 actors involved and 3 orchestras and filmed entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum, this film indeed is a cinematic achievement. A narrator and supposed ghost joins another traveller, a French diplomat and together they travel through 33 rooms, depicting moments from history. It's a marvel of a film but I have to admit, I felt quite lost and only enjoyed moments of it. However, it did make me want to see the palace for myself.
The Square
This film about an art museum curator who's life starts to unravel when his wallet and phone are stolen and demands them back. At the same time a new installation is opening and a marketing strategy he is over seeing goes horribly wrong. The film is satrical and critical of many things surrounding the art world, with scenes and events in the film inspired by director and writer Ruben Östlund's real life. Everyone talks about the performance artist scene BUT the film is much more than that.
Museum (Museo)
As one of the films I saw at the London Film Festival this year, despite starring Gael Garcia Bernal, my reason for going to see it, it was one of the films that made the least impact on me. Two students, wanting to do 'something' with their dull lives, decide to steal priceless Mayan artefacts from the prestigious National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. As thrillers go, the heist part of the film is smooth and is actually successful, its what happens when they try to sell the stolen goods. With everyone in Mexico on high alert for the theives, the items are literally priceless with no respectable dealer wanting to touch them and no other fence to move them on. Juan, the more ambitious of the two, becomes more and more desparate, not wanting his plan to be for nothing. While Benjamin, the one who wanted to quite before they started, is too afraid to continue until he finally comes through when its too late. Not knowing the real story, made the drama more exciting/stressful but never really understanding why the two guys did what they did was just frustrating. In the end, it felt that it was all for nothing.
