Leviathan

First of all, i can understand why some folks don't like this movie. It is unconventional, experimental and honest. So not everybody's cup of tea. The first five minutes i was also in a mood of "nahh what is that?" but then i kept watching and let myself go. The scenes are very long so they kinda let you immerse into what is happening after a while. What you see is not nice. But somehow i got hooked. It was almost kinda like meditation. Beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Just images and sound that together form something whole after a while. After i watched it, i didn't knew if i liked it or not. But days later i am still thinking about it, so i decided to like it. It is sort of Art and Reality melted together. An audiovisual experience that drags you down in the world of the sea, the fisherman, the boat, humankind, the world we live in. And it does that without telling you anything you didn't know already, because it doesn't have to.

If you are up for a new experience that will make you think about it for a while, go see the movie!

If you are expecting a neat little movie with a clear plot, that leaves you with a sense of having experienced something you can summarize easily ... you'll be sorely disappointed. This is a horror film in many senses, presented as poetry and intellectually obscure.

Its title, Leviathan, is a reference to the biblical passage that depicts man's encounter with a sea monster. Here, the monster is man, ripping life from the sea and destroying it in the harshest of ways, butchering sea creatures in such a matter-of-fact, emotionally detached way as to bring you to tears. But the way it is filmed creates a detachment of its own, sort of stifling the viewers' emotions so we can watch without turning away.

It is on its surface a commentary on the commercial fishing industry ... how we have reduced mass slaughter to an assembly-line process ... much like what the Nazis did to the Jews. When man turns against man, we are horrified. When man turns against nature ... it's just business as usual.

If there is a message to the film it's that we are the monsters on this planet.

Blood, guts, flesh, fishes, carcasses, knifes, butchery, filth, water, seagulls, workers, cigarettes, days, nights, alienation, Gopro cameras. This is sensory anthropology at its best. The viewer is trapped into this immersive world and forced to experience life and working hours through the fishermen's eyes. A fascinating, nauseous and vertiginous documentary film about industrial fishing. Masterpiece.

LEVIATHAN has attracted a fair amount of negative criticism from users. The reason is obvious: it is an essentially plot less piece designed to appeal to the senses and the imagination rather than telling a story. Focusing on the fishing industry in New Bedford, USA, directors Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel create a visually arresting experience in which color and imagery assume paramount importance. The movie is full of memorable images - a flock of seagulls flying at night, a lone bird trying to find food on the fishing boat, the sight of the fishermen lopping the heads off their catch. The movie has a memorable soundtrack, with the sounds of daily life in the fishing industry forming a kind of musique-concrete style score that has a certain haunting power. In thematic terms, the directors are out to show the power of the elements and how human life often seems insignificant by comparison - sometimes the fishermen seem entirely at the mercy of the cruel sea. Nonetheless they acquire a certain stoicism that enables them to continue their work; in one sequence, for instance, a lone fishermen is shown watching the television during one of his all-too- brief breaks from his nightly chores. LEVIATHAN does not celebrate the fishermen's life; it is more concerned to create an experience for viewers, and more than fulfills the task.

An interestingly filmed documentary that suggests a sensory experience rather than just capturing the conventionally "beautiful" images of the life in the sea. If you wish to watch a film that has a conventional narration do not watch this. The camera seeks to document fish, birds, nets, man, the sea etc with the same curiosity and the same intensity, everything being of the same importance. The camera moves a lot in this process and sometimes makes you feel dizzy but at the same time this way of documenting captures the essence of this world where everything moves and swirls constantly. Throughout the film there is an insistent mixing and blurring between the sea and the sky, up and down. The scenes showing the masses of fish tangled in the nets suggest a comment on man's voracity. Beautifully recorded sound. A bit bumpy but an interesting and genuine experience.