This film screened 31st January 2018.

Screening as part of a retrospective of the works of Andrey Zvyagintsev Jan 23rd-31st. 

An epic tale of political corruption with biblical overtones, Leviathan is Zvyagintsev’s most ambitious film to date and a deserving winner of the Best Screenplay award at Cannes.

The layered narrative centers on Kolya, a mechanic working in a coastal town who refuses to sell his land and business to a bullying mayor. Kolya brings in a friend from Moscow, looking for support in the face of aggression, but this has unforeseen consequences.

Leviathan stands as a powerful, provocative allegory for modern Russia, a depiction of a corrupt, broken and brutal society where common decency counts for nothing

Notes by David O’Mahony