A Second Look: Aleksandr Sokurov's calling card in three literary adaptations

In 1999, the Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov, the prolific filmmaker who remains probably best known for the 2002 art-house hit "Russian Ark," launched the eccentric Men of Power tetralogy, dealing mainly with the obscure inner lives of 20th-century dictators: Hitler ("Moloch," 1999), Lenin ("Taurus," 2001) and Japan's wartime emperor, Hirohito ("The Sun," 2005).

By Dennis Lim

February 2, 2013