Andrey Zvyagintsev
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Stalker (1979)
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
influenced Loveless (2017), The Banishment (2008)
Visuals
There is a “Stalker“-esque, almost science fiction vibe to these ambiguities, especially amid the film’s annihilated landscapes, but “Loveless” unfolds in the recent past, not the near future.
The methodical searching of an abandoned building that the boys used as a camp is reminiscent of Andrei Tarkovsky's vision of dripping multilevel ruin in Stalker.
It’s a revelation that proves as terrifying as anything brought in the film’s resolution, which develops incrementally towards a conclusion that has all the inexorability of the territory (it comes with some exterior locations that match even Tarkovsky’s Stalker for wondrous dereliction).
The plangent dialogue is surpassed by the child’s flat gaze upon a flat, gray, all-but-done city, face round, unblinking like the girl who makes magic at the end of Tarkovsky’s “Stalker.”
The decrepit apartment complex is straight out of the 1979 Stalker , with its murky puddles and piles of debris, and there’s even a quasi-in-joke reference to that film when one of the places the lost-child brigade goes to post fliers is a government complex with the words “forbidden zone” printed on the gate.
The hunt takes them through apartment blocks, dense forests, abandoned wastelands, and, most notably, a decaying Soviet-era complex that once housed conference rooms, a movie theater, and a basketball court — a massive, decrepit building that looks at times like it came right out of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker .
Cinephiles will no doubt eagerly tick off parallels with films like Michael Haneke’s Hidden, Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura or Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage, which Zvyagintsev himself cites in Loveless’ press notes, but ultimately this is a film that operates on its own unique frequency, albeit one that resonates richly with all of Zvyagintsev’s earlier work, from The Return through to The Banishment and Elena.
Zvyagintsev has compared Loveless to Ingmar Bergman’s Swedish masterpiece Scenes From a Marriage , but along with the inescapable ghosts of Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura , I found myself equally reminded of Let the Right One In , the heartbreaking chiller from Bergman’s fellow countryman Tomas Alfredson.
Considering that the mysterious disappearance of a central character initiates a slow-burn existential crisis for the middle-class protagonists, it’s safe to assume Antonioni’s L’Avventura was also a point of reference.
Although the most accessible of the director's four features, the drama sometimes waivers between pretension and profundity -- at best recalling the Russian art cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky ("Ivan's Childhood") and Aleksandr Sokurov ("Mother and Son").
Although the most accessible of the director's four features, the drama sometimes waivers between pretension and profundity -- at best recalling the Russian art cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky ("Ivan's Childhood") and Aleksandr Sokurov ("Mother and Son").
In the pantheon of great recent Russian works, Nikita Mikhalkov’s “Burnt by the Sun” makes for a good companion piece in the sense of violent undercurrents, but in texture and exploration of the human condition, the more ethereal and subtly complex “The Sacrifice” by the late, great Andrei Tarkovsky is a more apt specter of the beast.
In the pantheon of great recent Russian works, Burnt by the Sun makes for a good companion piece in its staid, violent undercurrents, but in texture and exploration of the human condition, the more ethereal and subtly complex The Sacrifice by the late, great Andrei Tarkovsky is a more apt specter of the beast.
His scathing depiction of all-consuming bureaucracy is reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, except this isn’t a work of satirical science-fiction fantasy.
Toward the end, Serebryakov reminded me of Robert De Niro in Raging Bull at the point when he's a bloody pulp in boxer shorts, taking blow after blow just to prove he can.
Zvyagintsev has compared Loveless to Ingmar Bergman’s Swedish masterpiece Scenes From a Marriage , but along with the inescapable ghosts of Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura , I found myself equally reminded of Let the Right One In , the heartbreaking chiller from Bergman’s fellow countryman Tomas Alfredson.
He becomes the target of the corrupt mayor (Roman Madyanov, brilliantly conjuring up shades of Bob Hoskins in “The Long Good Friday” and current Russian prez Vladimir Putin) in a northwestern Russian province near the Finnish border.
Kolya becomes the target of the corrupt mayor (Roman Madyanov, brilliantly conjuring up shades of Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday and current Russian President Vladimir Putin) in a northwestern Russian province, near the Finnish border.
In the pantheon of great recent Russian works, Nikita Mikhalkov’s “Burnt by the Sun” makes for a good companion piece in the sense of violent undercurrents, but in texture and exploration of the human condition, the more ethereal and subtly complex “The Sacrifice” by the late, great Andrei Tarkovsky is a more apt specter of the beast.
In the pantheon of great recent Russian works, Burnt by the Sun makes for a good companion piece in its staid, violent undercurrents, but in texture and exploration of the human condition, the more ethereal and subtly complex The Sacrifice by the late, great Andrei Tarkovsky is a more apt specter of the beast.
Sadly, one of the big ones involves a Russian mobster, Yulian, played by Aleksey Serebryakov (so fine in Leviathan yet here overacting to the nth degree).
As Hutch is pulled back into a world of fists, bullets, and blood after accidentally crossing Russian mobster Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksey Serebryakov, Leviathan ) — himself an insidiously unpredictable character and a fine foil for our hero — Naishuller keeps the pace cooking with inventive showdowns and gallows humor, all filmed like he’s got one shot to prove his worth.
One of the victims is the young brother of an evil Russian crime lord named Yulian (Aleksey Serebryakov, Leviathan ), who loves Karaoke nights and sharkskin suits.
The fun really begins when Hutch accidentally runs afoul of a vengeful Russian gangster (Aleksey Serebryakov, "Leviathan"), but you may well ask yourself, "Who's the real sociopath here?"
The rumble catches the attention of excitable yet menacing drug lord, Yulian Kuznetsov (an energetic Aleksei Serebryakov, best known for his wonderful work in the acclaimed film Leviathan , 2014), who vows vengeance on Hutch.
We get Michael Ironside glowering as the aforementioned father-in-law, RZA literally phoning in some cool as Hutch’s contact to the old ways, and Leviathan star Aleksey Serebryakov having a flamboyant good time as the Russian heavy with a yen for karaoke.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
influenced Leviathan (2014)
Visuals
The film is in some ways a more obvious successor to "Once Upon A Time In Anatolia" than Ceylan's own "Winter Sleep," matching the meditative rhythm and uncompromising artistry with a genuinely compelling story, and scenes as outright entertaining as anything we've seen in the festival.
With the exception of this drawn-out courtroom scene, which he plays for absurdist comedy (a la Romanian satire “Police, Adjective”), and a few extended driving sequences (echoes of Turkish procedural “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”), “Leviathan” typically moves much faster, covering far more ground over the course of its densely packed narrative.
No movie called “Leviathan” and not about a sea alien eating Daniel Stern (or about fish ) should be this nimble.
His 2003 debut "The Return" won the Golden Lion at Venice, 2007’s "The Banishment" picked up Best Actor at Cannes, and 2011’s "Elena" won the Special Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard.
In Zvyagintsev’s past films, from 2003 Venice Film Festival winner “The Return” to 2011’s Un Certain Regard-selected “Elena,” the helmer meditatively held certain shots to the brink of patience.
As complex as a novel, and apparently loosely based on the Book of Job, Andrey Zvyagintsev's official Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film, Leviathan is not as arty as his previous films The Return (2003) and Elena (2011), but it's still brainy enough to please hardcore cinephiles.
Resembling a combination of the grand compositions of Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev (Loveless, Leviathan), the diorama-like clutterbox cinema of Wes Anderson, and the seemingly neutral observational distance of the Romanian New Wave, Cuarón keeps the camera well back from the action, implacable in its discretion.
It faces some stiff competition, especially against the gorgeously filmed Ida, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski.
Fair warning: The movie that won, the Polish Holocaust drama "Ida," is upbeat by comparison.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
Directed by Larry Charles
influenced Leviathan (2014)
This is like Kazakhstan using oil revenues to pay for Borat.”
It's an epic story, stunningly photographed by Mikhail Krichman ("The Return," "Silent Souls") in cool blues, Philip Glass's ("The Hours," "Elena") music swirling like a churning sea.
Like "A Serious Man," it's a darkly comic tale of a flawed man being put through the grinder.