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Leviathan is set in the Russian coastal town of Pribrezhny where put-upon manual labourer, Kolya (Aleksey Serebryakov, giving a fantastic performance), has more than enough on his plate to make a man finally snap.
The plot is centered around a corrupt mayor, Vadim Shelevyat (Roman Madyanov), who’s as dodgy as they come and like an angry Mr Prosser from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, wants to demolish his house in order to develop the land whilst paying a pittance for it (xe.com confirmed the amount of roubles in the script worked out around £7000). However, whereas Arthur Dent lay down in the mud in front of a bulldozer, Kolya uses strong language fuelled by copious amounts of vodka – something which annoyed Vladimir Medinsky, Russian’s Minister of Culture, as they stumped up 35% of the budget for the film, and then moaned about how everyone’s drunk as a lord for the majority of the 142 minute running time.
Kolya tries to resolve matters by bringing in his lawyer, an old friend from his army days, Dima (Vladimir Vdovichenkov), who helps to a degree but also brings his own problems to the table, and the whole situation threatens to leave Kolya up a creek without a paddle. Having a wayward son, along with his conflict with Kolya’s wife, also doesn’t help matters.
You want Kolya to succeed and keep his house because (Phil & Kirstie hat on here), set on the North coast by the sea, the kitchen not only has dual-aspect windows, but triple! Yes, windows all around! Must take a while to clean them all, but the views are spectacular. And I love how the Mayor, who is panicking about re-election in a year’s time, has a less than flattering picture of Russian tyrant Putin on his wall, showing him almost bald!
Everyone is on great form here – Serebryakov, particularly as Kolya. Full credit also goes to the stunning Elena Lyadova as his wife Lilya, plus Vladimir Vdovichenkov as Dmitriy (aka Dima) and Roman Madyanov as the ‘fat controller’ mayor.
The premise may not sound the most interesting but, on the contrary, it’s a fascinating watch and for those wondering about the title, all will be revealed when you watch. *I* didn’t know the reason for it prior to watching it, so I shall leave it for you to discover also.
Leviathan runs for 142 minutes, which isn’t a quick film, but it nicely takes its time to tell a good story. There’s also glorious locations of church ruins and other coastal locations, which were filmed at Teriberka on the Barents Sea, and make you want to go and visit to see exactly what’s out there. In fact, the stunning scenery is accompanied by a theme from the wonderful Philip Glass, a la Koyaanisqatsi.
It’s also brilliantly scripted in that even when you think you know what’s happened, and the outcome of certain scenes, there’ll always be something to surprise you and keep you guessing. It’s also never less than engaging and has quite a few humourous moments, so if the idea of a long film, entirely in Russian dialogue, doesn’t thrill you, then you can rest assured you will enjoy it. And whatever you make of it, I challenge you not to crack up during an early scene, when a judge is reading out a judgement faster than Usain Bolt can run the 100 metres!
There’s also wonderful two-hander scenes, which sometimes focus almost solely on one character, showing interesting direction, as you see all of their reactions, inbetween speaking as the other takes their turn, but nothing from the second person. That might sound bizarre but it really works.
BTW, Leviathan is not to be confused with the nonsense sci-fi movie from 1989 starring Peter Weller. Just to clear that up.
Go to page 2 for the presentation and the extras.
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition and perfectly shows off the amazing scenery, as previously described. I’m watching this on a 50″ Panasonic Plasma TV. However, since the film was shot in 4K, it’d be a treat to see it in that format.
The audio is in DTS HD 5.1, but as you’d expect, there’s not going to be any split-surround action here, but the score, also as previously described, is a delight and there’s atmosphere in buckets, here.
The extras are as follows:
- Making Of (28:12): This is more a random collection of behind-the-scenes moments being filmed rather than a structured ‘making of’, but is nonetheless a fascinating watch, and also features the lead actor crashing his car by mistake. Subtitles in English are available, which is handy as all the dialogue is in Russian.
- Interview with director Andrey Zvyagintsev (22:37): He describes the film as something like a revelation or a movement of the soul that can’t be articulated instantly, and then goes on to describe what the film means to him and what it can mean to the viewer, as well as talking about making it. It also includes clips of the film.
- Deleted Scenes (22:18): A combination of deleted and alternate scenes – 12 in all, plus the occasional fluff. It’s interesting how the scenes start, and then a caption tells us which scene number this was in the film (briefly, while the scene continues in the background). Haven’t seen that done before.
I love the words of wisdom from the girl in the train scene. The subtitles are slightly different in the deleted scene, but the ‘making of’ shows this clip where she quoted as saying “Trains are traps… and people, too”, which is very philosophical for a child. If I had any complaints about this extra, it’s that the chapter markings are when the captions appear, and not when the scenes begin. Slight faux-pas, there… or whatever faux-pas is in Russian.
There’s nothng that desperately needs to go back in, but they serve as great companion pieces.
- Trailer (1:46): In the original 2.35:1. I think it gives too much away so I’d avoid this before you watch the film.
Subtitles are in English, and even though this release is intended for the UK market, a lot of people do want to know whether or not the subtitles are turnoffable, so they can watch the film in its original language, untainted by subtitles. And here, yes, you can. They can only be turned off from the main menu, though, but oddly, can’t be turned off from within the film.
Chapters are a bog-standard 12. I feel one should come every five minutes on average. A lot of distributors go for a low 12 however long the film. Artificial Eye’s chaptering tends to vary from disc to disc. Unfortunately, here, it’s just the same old 12, even for a film running 142 minutes.
The menu features an almost-static image of the boy on the beach, with some subtle animation, plus a piece of the theme in the background.
Leviathan is out now on Blu-ray and DVD, and click on the packshot for the larger version.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
9 10 8 4 |
| OVERALL | 8 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 142 minutes
Year: 2014
Released: March 9th 2015
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: Russian
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Digital Intermediate (4K))
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Producer: Sergey Melkumov
Screenplay: Oleg Negin and Andrey Zvyagintsev
Music: Philip Glass
Cast :
Kolya: Aleksey Serebryakov
Lilya: Elena Lyadova
Dmitriy (Dima): Vladimir Vdovichenkov
Vadim Shelevyat: Roman Madyanov
Angela: Anna Ukolova
Roman: Sergey Pokhodaev
Pacha: Aleksey Rozin
Sledovatel: Igor Savochkin
Arkhierey: Valeriy Grishko
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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