ANDREY ZVYAGINTSEV

Bil’s rating (out of 5):    BBBBB.  

Original title:  Leviafan

Russia, 2014.  Non-Stop Productions, A Company Russia, Russian Ministry of Culture, Fond kino.  Screenplay by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin.  Cinematography by Mikhail Krichman.  Produced by Sergey Melkumov, Alexander Rodyansky.  Music by Andrey Dergachev, Philip Glass.  Production Design by Andrey Ponkratov.  Costume Design by Anna Bartuli.  Film Editing by Anna Mass.  

A corrupt politician wants to take over the land upon which Nikolai owns a house, inciting a court battle that opens this fascinating political epic. The game spirals out of control as the volatile hero gets his lawyer Dmitri involved, who gets involved with Nikolai’s wife, and things seem to go their way with the evidence mounting of a scandal among the top brass. This is Russia, however, and the supposedly legitimate people at the top of the democratic food chain start issuing nasty, bullying threats at those whom they are supposed to be working for and the tide begins to change. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s masterful film, reminiscent of the kind of stuff Andrzej Wajda does best, is full of cynicism about Russian society, a place where the brutality of the Soviet years has gone nowhere and, no matter how good you are at trying to topple the bad guys, the house they own always wins over the one you built. Thankfully, Zvyagintsev is also a man with a great sense of humour, which means that none of these themes play out in a heavy-handed manner in order to teach us anything; the proceedings are entertaining regardless of the message, and the acting is top-notch from the uniformly brilliant cast.

Academy Award Nomination:  Best Foreign Language Film

Cannes Film Festival Award:  Best Screenplay

European Film Award Nominations:  Best European Film; Best European Actor (Aleksey Serebryakov); Best European Director (Andrey Zvyagintsev); Best European Screenwriter

Golden Globe Award:  Best Foreign Language Film

Toronto International Film Festival:  2014