This Russian-language film is up for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards, and it just might win, but that really won’t matter much while you’re watching it or—more likely—not watching it.
What Works: It’s a clever idea to interpret the story of Job in a contemporary Russian setting, and the Leviathan of the title isn’t an actual big fish, but something much more threatening: the all-powerful and equally corrupt Russian government, symbolically embodied here by a fat mayor who seems to be literally stuffing himself with power. He wants to tear down the hero’s home, and pretty much take everything from him, and enjoys consulting with a priest who keeps telling him that all power is given by God…exactly what he wants to hear.
What Doesn’t: This is one of the most depressing films I’ve seen in ages, and I have a high tolerance for that kind of thing. It’s not just the actual story, but the bleak Russian landscape, the unrelentingly sour hero (it’s hard to feel sorry for him even as he’s losing everything, a rare feat), and the dreary tone of the thing. I can appreciate a movie that takes itself seriously, but there’s not a lot of plot for a two and a half hour film, so we end up with endless scenes of characters drinking themselves senseless on cheap vodka. I would say there are as many scenes set around a table drinking or characters looking mournful as there are scenes where something actually happens.
What I Would Have Done Differently: This is at least a half hour too long, and the acting isn’t as strong as it could be. But somehow a film about government corruption got made in Russia and even past their censorship board so who knows what all compromises had to be made to get it out there at all? I always feel bad for criticizing Iranian or Russian movies because it must be extraordinarily difficult to make any kind of government-critiquing drama in those countries.