Not everyone in the world thinks the way Americans do. That's true in politics, religion, economics, culture, and entertainment. Take the Russian drama "Leviathan" (R, 2:20) for example. On the surface, the movie may seem like nothing more than an indictment of Russian political corruption and its unfair and inefficient social and legal systems. But this is a story about people, human beings who want the same things as people in other countries; to be part of a loving family, to be able to make a decent living, to be treated well by family, friends and society, to be happy. When those things are missing from someone's life, especially if they've been unfairly taken away, his or her efforts to restore what's missing is a struggle to which most people can relate, regardless of nationality. This film's story was inspired by the struggles of an American named Marvin Heemeyer, but Russian writer/director Andrey Zvyagintsev wanted to set the story in Russia. With that, of course, comes Russian story-telling techniques – and an opportunity for non-Russians to learn more about how different life is in that country – and how similar people are the world over.
The story centers around a man named Kolya (Alexei Serebriakov), who operates an automotive repair shop on his property right next to the Barents Sea. Kolya lives there with his second wife, Lilya (Elena Lyadova), and teenage boy, Roma (Sergey Pokhodaev), his son from his first marriage. His family is small, he doesn't have many friends, his business isn't exactly making him wealthy and, except for the view, his house is nothing to shout about, but it's all his until other people look to take away what little he has. With the town's unscrupulous mayor (Roman Madyanov) working the system to take Kolya's land (without even paying him a fair price), Koyla's old Army buddy, Dmitri (Vladimir Vdovichenkov), who is a lawyer in Moscow, comes to help. The deck seems stacked against Koyla and there's little that Dmitri can do for him in court, but Dmitri has a couple tricks up his sleeve. Then, just as Dmitri seems to be making some progress helping Koyla, an alliance between the mayor and the local Russian Orthodox priest, along with some significant changes in Koyla's personal life, put up more obstacles than he seems able to handle.
"Leviathan" is a well-made and interesting look inside modern Russia, but the style of filmmaking is an acquired taste. The movie is rife with symbolism, even if it isn't all explained in the script. For example, the movie poster and two scenes in the film feature what appears to be a skeleton of a giant sea creature, or leviathan. No one interacts with or comments on the huge and impressive skeleton, but it seems to symbolize Kolya's troubles. A brief conversation between him and the priest hints at that symbolism as well as parallels between Koyla's life and a couple different biblical stories, while raising big questions about the place of religion in our lives. The ending is clever, but some moviegoers may not stay interested long enough to get there. Throughout this lengthy film, there's not a sympathetic character in sight, the setting is bleak and the story is depressing. This film is very Kafkaesque. One major event in the story is not shown, with the audience left to guess what happened. Another major plot point raises more questions than it answers and is left unresolved. Kafkaesque. While this type of movie is not my cup of vodka, I admire the performances and craftsmanship that went into this award-winning film. "B-"
The story centers around a man named Kolya (Alexei Serebriakov), who operates an automotive repair shop on his property right next to the Barents Sea. Kolya lives there with his second wife, Lilya (Elena Lyadova), and teenage boy, Roma (Sergey Pokhodaev), his son from his first marriage. His family is small, he doesn't have many friends, his business isn't exactly making him wealthy and, except for the view, his house is nothing to shout about, but it's all his until other people look to take away what little he has. With the town's unscrupulous mayor (Roman Madyanov) working the system to take Kolya's land (without even paying him a fair price), Koyla's old Army buddy, Dmitri (Vladimir Vdovichenkov), who is a lawyer in Moscow, comes to help. The deck seems stacked against Koyla and there's little that Dmitri can do for him in court, but Dmitri has a couple tricks up his sleeve. Then, just as Dmitri seems to be making some progress helping Koyla, an alliance between the mayor and the local Russian Orthodox priest, along with some significant changes in Koyla's personal life, put up more obstacles than he seems able to handle.
"Leviathan" is a well-made and interesting look inside modern Russia, but the style of filmmaking is an acquired taste. The movie is rife with symbolism, even if it isn't all explained in the script. For example, the movie poster and two scenes in the film feature what appears to be a skeleton of a giant sea creature, or leviathan. No one interacts with or comments on the huge and impressive skeleton, but it seems to symbolize Kolya's troubles. A brief conversation between him and the priest hints at that symbolism as well as parallels between Koyla's life and a couple different biblical stories, while raising big questions about the place of religion in our lives. The ending is clever, but some moviegoers may not stay interested long enough to get there. Throughout this lengthy film, there's not a sympathetic character in sight, the setting is bleak and the story is depressing. This film is very Kafkaesque. One major event in the story is not shown, with the audience left to guess what happened. Another major plot point raises more questions than it answers and is left unresolved. Kafkaesque. While this type of movie is not my cup of vodka, I admire the performances and craftsmanship that went into this award-winning film. "B-"