Leviathan

'LEVIATHAN': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Another experimental film taking the 'less is more' approach to art and filmmaking. There's no storyline, no character development and no characters for that matter. The movie 'LEVIATHAN' (not to be confused with the 1989 monster flick, of the same name, starring Peter Weller) is a collection of long random shots aboard a fishing ship. It was directed and written (if you can call it writing) by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel. I found it to be visually interesting but also extremely boring.

The movie is just a collection of random shots (that go on for way too long) about a fishing vessel. It's supposed to be some kind of a commentary on the fishing industry I think. There's a lot of shots of people doing various jobs, with almost no dialogue (and what dialogue there is is not important). It was filmed with waterproof cameras that are clipped to all sorts of people, animals (possibly) and things.

The film received rave reviews and I don't understand why. I think it actually would have been a lot better cut into a bunch of 5 to 10 minute YouTube videos. As a nearly 90 minute movie it's way too long and uninteresting. The shots look cool though and I guess it's kind of an informative look at the fishing industry and life at sea. It reminds me of another recent critically acclaimed but very boring film (with no dialogue) called 'ALL IS LOST'. In my opinion there's not much to it.

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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.

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!

I've never felt compelled to counteract negative reviews on this site before, but in the case of Leviathan I couldn't help myself. If I had come to this film expecting a traditional documentary on the commercial fishing industry, I may have been contributing my very own one-star critique right now. Then again, if I'd thought this was going to be a traditional documentary on the commercial fishing industry, I probably wouldn't have watched it in the first place.

Leviathan is definitely experimental (though experiential may be a better descriptor for it.) It offers no narration, no facts or figures, no conclusion or agenda. The only dialogue we hear is, for the most part, distorted to the point of abstraction.

What Leviathan does offer is an immersive, hypnotic experience. The sounds and images are alternately nightmarish, surreal and eerily beautiful. Even the rudimentary glimpses into the lives of the fishermen on board are rendered at an odd reserve, remaining as enigmatic as the seabirds we see throughout the film, crashing into the black waves. Experiencing this movie is like being transformed into an alien observer; the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Of course, everyone's entitled to an opinion, and I can completely understand why a person might hate this movie. It truly is a Rorschach blot of a film, allowing the audience to engage with it from almost any angle imaginable. I think that's where Leviathan's beauty lies. Anyone interested in what movies can show us should at least give this one a shot.

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.