'Russian Ark'

What an extremely unique piece of filmmaking. It's a shame it was better publicized at the time.

Essentially, the viewer is the narrator -- all shot with one camera as the eyes as you (him) travel through the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. There, time is warped. Scenes jump from the 19th and 20th centuries. One minute we're in the midst of Catherine the Great, a ball or Tsar Nicholas I receiving a party from Persia. In another haunting scene, a Russian peasant is making his own coffin during the siege of Leningrad during World War II. We are warned to not enter the building.

All the while, our senses are enraptured by art and music -- some of the greatest in the world currently part of the Hermitage Museum within the palace.

Simply a phenomenal film.