Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014): Russia

Reviewed by Michelle Ciccati. Viewed at Chinese Theatre 1 in Hollywood, AFI Fest 2014

Set in a grey, sea-side fishing town, Leviathan is about corruption in politics and religion and the overlap between them. When a lower-middle class man, his son and his wife (not the mother of the son) are being evicted from the home he built himself, the man decides to take action. First within the law, then outside the law (which he realizes is against him and unjust), Nikolay (Alexsey Serebryakov) takes matters into his own hands. With the help of his brother, Dimitriy (Vladimir Vdovichenkov) he is able to blackmail and negotiate. This film is bleak and cold, it leaves you feeling like you survived a Russian winter, but just barely.