The interior shots of the Hermitage, and the period costumes and ballroom scene are spectacular and stunning. For that, the epic scale of history covered (largely successfully), and the achievement of doing this in a seamless 90-minute shot, this film deserves 7/10. It's that much of an accomplishment.
Unfortunately, the irritating "dialog" and "plot" nearly ruined an otherwise awe-inspiring experience. The ongoing bickering between the two main "characters" was completely annoying, and their occasional interactions with the Hermitage's inhabitants were alternately pretentious and absurd. It was never clear to me in which rooms/periods these two guys were visible and/or audible to those around them, and in which they were not. And c'mon, a guy dressed like that being welcomed as a guest at such an elegant ball? He'd have been lucky to have only been tossed back out on the street. Simply
This movie would have worked much better as a simple documentary. Basically unchanged, except for the replacement of these two annoying characters with a standard documentary voice-over explaining what's going on. Then I'd have given it 10/10.
Unfortunately, the irritating "dialog" and "plot" nearly ruined an otherwise awe-inspiring experience. The ongoing bickering between the two main "characters" was completely annoying, and their occasional interactions with the Hermitage's inhabitants were alternately pretentious and absurd. It was never clear to me in which rooms/periods these two guys were visible and/or audible to those around them, and in which they were not. And c'mon, a guy dressed like that being welcomed as a guest at such an elegant ball? He'd have been lucky to have only been tossed back out on the street. Simply
This movie would have worked much better as a simple documentary. Basically unchanged, except for the replacement of these two annoying characters with a standard documentary voice-over explaining what's going on. Then I'd have given it 10/10.