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Russian Ark (2002)
Russian Ark (2002) poster

Russian Ark (2002)

Русский ковчег

Drama, Fantasy, History • 1h 39m

Director: Aleksandr Sokurov

Cast: Sergey Dreyden, Mariya Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Edisher (Davit) Giorgobiani, Aleksandr Chaban, Lev Eliseev, Oleg Khmelnitsky, Alla Osipenko, Artyom Strelnikov, Tamara Kurenkova, Maxim Sergeev, Natalya Nikulenko, Elena Rufanova, Elena Kramer, Konstantin Anisimov, Aleksey Barabash, Ilya Shakunov, Aleksandr Kulikov, Anna Aleksakhina, Vladimir Baranov, Anna Antonelli, Valentin Bukin, Svetlana Gaytan, Vadim Gushchin, Kirill Dateshidze, Mikhail Dorofeev, Valentina Egorenkova, Oleg Efremov, Sergei Losev, Vadim Lobanov, Vladimir Lisetsky, Aleksandr Malnykin, Kirill Miller, Viktor Mikhaylov, Sergey Muchenikov, Sergey Nadporozhskiy, Yuriy Orlov, Aleksandr Razbash, Boris Smolkin, Evgeny Filatov, Yuri Khomutyansky, Anatoliy Shvederskiy, Valery Gergiev, Igor Volkov, Svetlana Svirko, Konstantin Mukhin, Sasha Durpfen, Yuriy Ageykin, Alexandr Andreev, Dmitri Alexandrov, Alexander Alexeev, Andrey Arshinnikov, Ismat Ashurov, Artashes Aleksanyan, Dmitri Bekoyev, Oleg Palmov, Aleksandr Tsybulsky, Serhii Romaniuk, Nikolay Gravshin, Konstantin Demidov, Anatoly Dubanov, Aleksey Emelyanov, Dmitriy Zebrov, Yefim Ioffe, Olga Kalmykova, Valentina Kasyanova, Yuriy Kalugin, Valeri Kozinets, Aleksei Krymov, Igor Okrepilov, Irina Osnovina, Valeri Smolyakov, Boris Sokolov, Nikolay Fedortsov, Valeriy Filonov, Darya Khudyakova, Vladimir Chernyshov, Andrey Shchepochkin, Anya Antonelly, Egor Bakulin, Olga Belyavskaya, Mark Gavrilov, Yekaterina Gorokhovskaya, Anna Ekaterininskaya, Sergey Yelikov, Aleksandra Kulikova, Nataliya Kadochnikova, Mariya Lavrova, Maria Mescheryakova, Artur Mkrtchyan, Aleksey Oding, Alla Oding, Kirill Petrov, Rodion Prikhodko, Andrey Rodimov, Yuliya Rudina, Elena Simonova, Kirill Ulyanov, Aleksey Fedkin, Boris Khasanov, Rosina Tsidulko, Yuliya Shubareva, Svetlana Nemirovskaya, Vsevolod Tsurilo, Nataliya Tarynycheva, Khelga Filippova, Vyacheslav Manucharov, Elena Savelieva, Anna Dyukova, Igor Besschastnov, Aleksey Vasilev, Mikhail Terentyev, Mikhail Sharautin, Sergey Peregudov, Yuliya Gorshenina, Gali Abaydulov, Roman Rolbin, Pavel Kornakov, Aleksandr Karpov, Vladimir Belovolsky, Alexander Balonin, Galina Burkina, Eyyup Can Ulas, Aleksandr Sokurov, Svetlana Smirnova, Oleg Losev, Philipp Baron, Vladimir Sevostyanikhin, Yulian Makarov

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago

Overview

A ghost and a French marquis wander through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, encountering scenes from many different periods of its history.

Release details

TSPDT
2026: #563
2025: #559
2024: #548
2023: #497
2022: #497
Length
99 mins
Type
Movie

More from Aleksandr Sokurov

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Director: Aleksandr Sokurov

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

DVD

Best Video:

Japan IVC Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Japan IVC Blu-ray but no English subtitle, otherwise only DVD

More from Kino Lorber

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Director: Steve De Jarnatt

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

UK Transmission 4K Blu-ray in January 2027

Best Audio:

Either the 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-ray or the Arrow Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

The 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray is botched.

Director: Simon Wincer

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, UHD replacement disc is also defective with worse encode. The UHD has visible artifacts from the bad encoding. The HDR is overdone and the Paramount 4K master has grain management.
The new Kino Blu-ray has none of the UHD's problems and is superior to the UHD in every way though it still uses the same Paramount master.

Best Audio:

DVD 5.1 or LaserDisc 5.1 AC3, LD PCM 2.0 for the matrix stereo version. The LD and DVD seem to be the theatrical audio mix untouched with plenty of low end. This low end like a number of 90's Paramount titles was mixed out or tamed on subsequent releases. 

Additional Info:

The Lionsgate BD and Paramount BD share the same lackluster HD master with DNR and image distortion. The Lionsgate is much better encoded but has a 7.1 remix which messed up the original mix design by lessening all the great Foley work in favor of the score. The Paramount BD had a 5.1 lossless version of the original mix but it's a new version where the bass has been tamed so the track has lost its punch. The Kino Lorber UHD and Blu-ray recycle this same lesser 5.1 mastering. The original mix can still be heard on LD and DVD. The 2.0 stereo on the Kino is matrixed but also does not sound as good as the 2.0 matrix audio on DVD or LD.
Kino has a replacement program for the defective UHD to fix the color space issue. The new disc is not marked, has a worse encode AND DOES NOT FIX THE COLOR SPACE! Thus it is a worse defective disc version of the original defective disc.
The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.

Director: Preston Sturges

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Video Notes:

No information on French Elephant Films Blu-ray

Director: Martin Scorsese

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Other releases have horrendous DNR

Director: Lewis Milestone

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm Fine Grain. Even with its unfortunate and noticeable print damage, tears, and other issues, still easily beats any prior disc release, though the Imprint BD (same master as Kino, but inferior encode) included in their Essential Film Noir Collection Vol. 3 set does include more extras. https://youtu.be/-Wrsn6-XJCo

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode

Director: John Frankenheimer

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1994 MGM LaserDisc

Director: Paul Leni

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Theatrical/Original A negative: MoC Blu-ray

European C/D negative but better picture quality: Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

From DVDBeaver: The MoC Blu-ray is scanned from the American A negative, as opposed to the European C or D negatives used by Photoplay and others (Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray), so it is identical with the film US audiences saw in 1927

See caps for comparison

In addition, the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has sepia tinting throughout while the MoC Blu-ray has yellow for normal scenes, blue for night scenes, and some even green tintings.

Director: Hal Ashby

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.

Audio Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Japan Blu-ray 2021 reissue

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Japan Blu-ray has better encode than other BDs.

Additional Info:

US and UK Blu-rays have their framing slightly positioned higher and lower respectively caps. JP BD is closest to center frame.

Directors: Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · filmalert101.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

FiM encode and none of the low-pass filtering present on the Criterion 4K, resulting in more detail and better handling of highlights on Imprint
Review, comparisons

Best Audio:

ITV UK Blu-ray or Indigo DE Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

All HD and 4K sources use the same 2009 restoration. Criterion's master (also used by Imprint) is a bit more rolled off, though the difference is minor.

Director: Doug Liman

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Cut: Universal HD-DVD

International Cut: International Universal Blu-ray but slightly filtered and DNR'd

Video Notes:

The Universal Blu-ray is slightly filtered and DNR'd compared to the HD-DVD, and the Universal 4K Blu-ray, on top of being upscaled, adds additional DNR and is softer than both previous HD releases.

Best Audio:

Universal Blu-ray DTS-HD 5.1

Additional Info:

Versions:
- The International version contains a short additional scene (part of the "Farmhouse" extended scene from the special features). See additional detail below.
- The US version does not contain this scene during the film. Director Doug Liman confirms in his audio commentary that the scene was cut from the original US theatrical release "for time".
- "The Explosive Extended Edition" found on some DVD releases is not an alternate cut of the film, simply an access mode that plays "The Bookend Scenes" features via non-seamless branching.

Deck the Halls scene:
The U.S. release is 118:17 while the European/Australian/Japanese releases are 118:36. There is no difference between the two running times from the start, but at 81:21, the U.S. version cuts from a kitchen scene of Marie and Eamon washing dishes, to a scene of Eamon bringing blankets to Jason and Marie. On the European/Australian releases, at the same point, there is a scene of Jason, Marie, Eamon and his children eating dinner while "Deck the Halls" plays in the background. There is no dialogue, the characters just each exchange uncomfortable glances. The scene goes to 81:40, then picks up the same scene of Eamon bringing blankets. This scene is included as an extra ("Farmhouse" extended scene) albeit sans the holiday themed music. Many thanks to Rewind user Mark Bowen for comparing these releases and letting us know the difference.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the WB release without the filtering, 1.85 ratio restored

Best Audio:

Mono: Criterion 4K Blu-ray (restored for the box set)/1999 WB R1 DVD
5.1 remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Michael Mann

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · thedigitalbits.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and is better than Criterion, see caps https://slow.pics/c/Z2RRQAAT

Criterion 4K Blu-ray vs Blu-ray: caps colors are more different and nuanced than anticipated even in the SDR-converted caps and the usual gain in highlight detail is also apparent. Encode looks excellent except for the brightest areas as usual.

Best Audio:

5.1/5.0 mix (essentially a 4-track mix in 5.1 and 5.0 containers respectively)-Arrow/Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Only imperceptible differences in bit-depth: 20 vs 24. 

2.0 mix- Arrow 4K Blu-ray (original stereo)

Additional Info:

Arrow and Criterion 4K Blu-rays have differing extras 

Criterion has FEL Dolby Vision, Arrow has MEL

Arrow Limited Edition includes the Theatrical Cut Blu-ray from an older HD master, most likely from a 2K scan of an interpositive.

Directors: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK StudioCanal UHD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

US Magnolia BD

Audio Notes:

UK Entertainment One release contains directors commentary track

Director: Simon Wells

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Dolby Stereo: THX Certified Laserdisc

Director: Samuel Fuller

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-Ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

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· last reviewed 1 year ago

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