This movie clocks in at over 6 hours and it's alternatingly fascinating and frustrating. Some content is quite intense. Even shocking.
First off it looks absolutely authentic for the period and locale that it is set in. The clothes look absolutely correct down to the smallest detail and so does everything else. There is some rather whimsical set construction/decoration but it fits perfectly with the story. Basically it feels like a Science institute in Moscow in 1968 COULD have been. I can't say whether it is authentic to any "real world" location but that's kind of beside the point.
The "actors" are in the main very believable in their roles but it's hard to really call them actors. What I understand of things is that this is one installment of a quite gigantic project that is more of a gigantic roleplay where people actually lived as the characters that they are portraying inside a huge set.
The "plot" is where things get tricky. There are parts that I really just could not get interested in. At the same time there were parts that really grabbed me. Some was very uncomfortable to watch indeed. Some just felt like dramatic spectacle that was thrown in for looks. It was hard to really understand a lot of what was presented because there is a lot that isn't in this film that probably has a bearing on things that are in it. I'm unsure how much (if any) was scripted and how much of it is "seat of the pants".
Conclusion - It's worth a look but you may find yourself fast-forwarding and you may very well hate some parts. There is however some gold to be found. Basically it isn't anything else you've ever seen or even close to it.
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