Critic's Grade: C-

This movie is advertized as an uncompressed HD tour showing us the art works of the Hermitage.
This would seem to be a welcome documentary,as the alternative would be to fly on one of the most dangerous airlines to one of the most overpriced hotels drive in a Communist era car over pot-hole ridden streets to the Hermitage,former Winter Palace,where the walls are crumbling,most of the museum is closed,the lighting does not work,there is no giftshop,there is no restaurant,and the restrooms are filthy and miles away.

The gimmick is that the film is done in a single unbroken 90 min shot.No editing.Great gimmick,but how does this make for better viewing of the promised art treasures?
What you have is a guy with a steadycam on rollerscates desperately trying to zap his way through the museum in one take.
There is something about Americans that makes them proud of being able to navigate the Louvre as fast as possible.This film would seem tailor fit for that crowd.I have been expecting for some time that groups of tourists will rent world class museums during the off hours and use motorized vehicles to oggle,like driving DAytona beach while watching the bikinis.

As if the cameraman's job was not hard enough,the Director mumbles irrelevant nonsense in Russian throughout and there is an obnoxious Frenchman who walks in front denigrating all things Russian.In addition to the FRench count,there are 2000 extras done up in period costumes covering 300 years of Russian history.
So these impoverished Russians manage to con some German film co into giving them millions under the same false promise as the ads to the public,a high definition tour of the Hermitage.
Instead,what you get is Wiley CAyote with a handycam dodging his way around the Director,the French Count,and 2000 partying extras.These drunken extras are in the way of your seing any treasures and the narration is an obstacle and distraction from any possible comprehension af the art treasures we see in peripheral vision.

All Reviews by Fred Landis
If you are the author of this review, you may edit it by signing in.