Loan Ranger fell into last week fresh from watching “Russian Ark”, a film by Aleksandr Sokurov. It traverses 300 years of Russian history in a 1.3km sweep through the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and includes a cast of 2000 people, but is shot in just a single unedited 99 minute take.
Led by ‘the Stranger’, a 19th century French aristocrat somehow reminiscent of Dante’s Virgil, the protagonist – whose perspective we share through the camera – is soon lost in an epic journey. The architecture is spectacular and dizzying, the choreography at times magnificent.
Yet from its fascinating initial conceit, the film does for large parts languish in long empty corridors, too much brooding silence, and a lot of ponderous staring at paintings.
Such is the present state of the Russian loan market. There is a great sense of history and the meticulous choreography of deals still exists, but the cast of bankers can only hear the echo of their own footfalls as they traipse around a baffling old museum. God knows what’s happened to the script.
Best just to stare at the paintings and hope nobody falls over.
These facets were demonstrated last week by a conference for loans and bonds in Moscow. The event is billed as one of the biggest of the year in the Russian capital markets, but loan bankers reported back their disappointment in the attendance. This was not a disparagement of the conference itself, it should be pointed out, but a reflection on what has happened to the market and the effect it has had on meaningful dialogue.
“All the banks were present,” said one. “But there was hardly anyone from overseas. Maybe five people.”
Was it useful nonetheless? “Not really,” said the banker forlornly. “What can we say to each other these days? Nobody knows what is going on any more or even what their own banks are doing. All we could do is go for a drink and catch up.”
Russian Ark may have benefitted from such an approach.
Meanwhile, Loan Ranger is assured that Russian deals are on the way. They just proceed with the caution and ponderous pace of the country’s great cinematic epics. Anyone for watching an Andrei Tarkovsky?