Leviathan (2014)

Wonderful character development!

Too much of everything

People are voting emotionally.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A movie can be great for several reasons:an original or creative ideaa good direction that will highlight a beautiful story or an important theme to think oncan cause strong emotions, either for laughs or tearsspectacular special effects or majestic photographyan exciting soundtrack or music selectionpowerful acting or intelligent dialoguesThis film has nothing of the above:is the same old story about a private citizen overwhelmed by the corruption of the politicians and the powerfulThe direction is lazy and without inspiration, anonymousthe strongest emotion I felt was boredom, endless boredomthe special effects did not serve and there are none, though photography is not badthe soundtrack does not exist except for 1 minuteacting is undoubtedly realistic but engagement is the same as listening to the news on TV and dialogues are at the most trivialA movie devoid of any of the above qualities, what score should it have?I gave my answer.

It is said that the horror movie genre was invented in the US during the Great Depression. That people needed something scary to get distracted from their own harsh realities, even if just for an hour or two, and maybe even get the feeling that their lives aren't that bad after all.Andrey Zvyagintsev reinvented the concept of horror movies. He basically replaced the screen with a glass wall, so that the audience could see... their own lives, devoid of any fake prettification. And, in fact, his films are way scarier than any, even the most brutal and gory horror film Hollywood could come up with.You probably ought to live here to be able to see it like that though. Not just visit, but actually be an integral part of this Russia. Russia without god, without truth and without hope. Russia that holds you from the day you were born and suffocates you throughout your life. Russia that only a marginal number of its citizens gets to escape. And this Russia is real, no matter how much the majority of my compatriots try to believe otherwise.But even if you are lucky enough to be living in a more hope-filled place, watching Leviathan could still be of some use. So that you could see what we are as a country and as a nation. Beautiful as the hills and mountains and bays of our Far East, cold as a breeze over the wasteland, and utterly lost in space and time like that ever-leaden sea. You could see people, living their lives one day at a time and having no hope neither for tomorrow nor for the rest of the time ahead, drowning their angers and sorrows and basically a total absence of anything really bright in alcoholic drowsiness and silent self-loathing that follows. People who once were born beautiful, just like the rest of the humankind, but whose sparks had long been put out and smothered by not even a darkness but a neverending fog of life with no meaning or goal. That's the real fifty shades of grey, people, and this time there's nothing sexy or fun about it.Of course, it's not always horrendous out here, otherwise all of us would have slit our wrists centuries ago. The sun still shines from time to time, the nature is still mostly uncorrupted and instilling liveliness, people still manage to love each other, even when the life is hard. But, come think of it, even in the brightest and the most poverty-protected places of this country you still could feel living under a huge dome. Because the system, one that's been around long before Putin came to power and stemming from the very essence of our people, makes sure that you're never fully in charge of your life. Small or big, we are still puppets in someone else's hands. The only difference is that some have absolute pigs as their masters, never shy to show around who's the boss, and some are given a dose of illusion that they actually have freedom here and that god is their only judge. But even if god ever existed, he's long forsaken this desolate place, and all the freedom left is still bound by the invisible glass walls, walls one of which Andrey Zvyagintsev has used so artfully.

Another overrated 'Award' winner. Seems the bleaker they are the higher the likelihood of being hailed!. Plankton rules, a long term IMDb reviewer sums it up pretty well (along with others, see approx 3 - 5 down on page two). I can see this being a good 50min TV drama - the story is potent enough but the treatment is dull, and moves along in two speeds: dead slow and stop.Imagery is the strongest feature - striking cinematography by Mikhail Krichman, capturing some dramatically haunting locations on the Russian coast - these are set to a moody selection of music written by Philip Glass. Then enter the characters of the piece, eternally drunk - to the point of rendering themselves hopeless, endlessly swearing or attempting to cheat each other and so on. Expecting an audience to spend this much time with these folk is a very big ask. Here I have to agree with the Russian Minister of Culture - who put money into this production - then somewhat understandably disowned the film. It rightly tells the story of shocking endemic corruption by persons in high places (all administered by their paid thugs) and the terrible effects this imposes on the Russian every-man - but, in the process it gradually looses all impact by taking way too long to deliver its message. We have seen how well Russian film makers can execute an exemplary product - just a year before (2013) they gave us the superb "Gagarin" (coming in 30min under the run-time of Leviathan). Leviathan's director and writer might have done well to take a leaf from this fine film and trimmed much of the heavy-handed, turgid approach given to their subject. It's not entirely made clear if the Orthodox church is being accused of being highly complicit in this corruption or is perhaps simply benefiting thorough the hypocrisy of officials who are attempting to 'buy their way to heaven'. The final sermon, delivered in full, in the presence of these hypocritical civil servants, perfectly puts the blame squarely on their greedy heads. Then again, it seems more likely this is the filmmakers own political attempts at putting the church down. Ultimately this movie is a huge let down. Some will, some won't, I certainly didn't....

Relentlessly grim drama about the catastrophic collapse of Russian society under Vladimir Putin's Soviet style dictatorship.Aleksey Serebryakov stars as Nikolay, a violent, poorly educated alcoholic peasant (symbolising the Russian people) whose filthy, rundown coastal property is under threat of compulsory acquisition by the corrupt mayor (symbolising Putin). As the crisis deepens, Nikolay's family collapses and his friends begin to suspect him of criminal activity. If you can put up with almost 2 hours of miserable East Slavic muzhiks lurching around Teriberka and grunting at each other in their primitive dialect while they drink themselves into an early grave and occasionally indulge in a burst of domestic violence, this could be the movie for you.I rate Левиафан at 24.97 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a refreshingly competent 7.5/10 on IMDb.