Elegy of a Voyage Sonata for Alto: Dimitri Shostakovich

Two haunting, atmospheric meditations on art, silence, and the human condition.

Sokurov's most recent video, Elegy of a Voyage is a trance-like chronicle of a man moving across northern Europe, eventually arriving in Rotterdam's Boijmans Museum where, in the dead of night, he is carried away by the sight of a 17th-century Dutch painting. (The Boijmans Museum was among the video's commissioners, where it was presented in installation form earlier this year.) (2001; 48 mins.)

The invaluable Sonata for Alto presents a haunting portrait of the composer Dimitri Shostakovich. The film's exploration of his tragic destiny under the Soviet regime gives way to a wider meditation on artistic creativity challenged (and often silenced) by totalitarianism. (1981; 80 mins.)