You may not be able to pronounce the name Andrey Zvyagintsev, but this spring you likely saw that flurry of consonants and vowels across Twitter or in the blogosphere. The director's epic "Leviathan" was the big talk of the Cannes Film Festival, and one many thought would take the Palme d'Or. Instead, it had to settle on the screenplay prize, but if the buzz is anything to go by, this is a movie you need to put high on your watch list. Starring Alexey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Vdovitchenkov, Roman Madyanov, Anna Ukolova, Alexey Rozin and Sergey Pokhadaev, the movie is set in a small town in which a property owner and the mayor battle over a parcel of land, in a story inspired by the Biblical tale of Job. But there's much more, as it comments on corruption in Russia, and our A-grade review calls the movie "not just masterful but also hugely important.
- 8/29/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The Masters section is always a Croisette and Lido heavy selection and this year is no different. From Cannes we have Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D (which is a top of the charts item according to our Blake Williams) Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan (which our Nicholas Bell thinks is near perfection and calls “cinematic sublimity with this multilayered and operatic exploration of the crushing corruption of an unchecked regime” and Abderrahmane Sissakos’ Timbuktu. On tap directly from Venice we might have the retirement films from Roy Andersson (A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence) and Ann Hui (The Golden Era), with some South Korean representation from Hong Sang-soo in Hill of Freedom and Revivre from Im Kwon-taek, but the worthy mentions are the nabbed world premiere status items from the always fascinating, taste dispenser and wide-ranging filmography in Michael Winterbottom & the always wry and humorous latest...
- 7/29/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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