Leviathan

Film (2014)

With Elena Lyadova (Lilya), Aleksey Serebryakov (Kolya), Sergey Pokhodaev (Roma), Vladimir Vdovichenkov (Dmitriy Seleznyov), Roman Madyanov (Vadim Shelevyat)

Kolya (Aleksey Serebryakov), his wife Lilya (Elena Lyadova), and his son by a former marriage, Roma (Sergey Pokhodaev), live on a piece of property that the local corrupt mayor, Vadim Shelevyat (Roman Madyanov) has designs on. Kolya is in rough shape to begin with, and clearly his relationship with Lilya has seen better days. A sleek lawyer friend, Dmitriy (Vladimir Vdovichenkov) appears from Moscow which seems to be a support to Kolya until it isn’t. Betrayals of one sort or another lurk behind every corner. When the final, ridiculous, ecclesiastical culmination appears, one can only laugh between the tears.

There is a lot of vodka drinking in this film, a lot. If it’s any indication of what some Russians actually do, it’s a real eye opener. Guzzling one large glass after another, it’s amazing these characters manage to stay erect at all.

This is a film with no heroes. The major characters are victims and the minor ones are perpetrators of trouble.

The tone and pace of the narrative are biblical, and, in fact, a large whale skeleton appears significantly on the beach near where Kolya and Lilya live.

Aleksey Serebryakov, a well known Russian actor, gives a thoroughly convincing performance as Kolya, a pitiful but lovable laggard.

Elena Lyadova, as Lilya, has a rustic sensuality that continually seduces the camera, despite the insistently grey tone of the setting.

Sergey Pokhodaev as Kolya’s son, Roma, adds a compelling, but heartbreaking, touch of moral fiber where it barely exists, searching through the mountains of pointlessness for a stick of hope.

The outcome of the tragic unfolding is vividly ironic, its architectural emblem sitting bluntly and foolishly at the edge of the sea, Kolya’s and Lilya’s humble shack supplanted by something more traditionally institutional, as terrifying as it is ridiculous.

– BADMan