Zvyagintsev grants unrelenting, painstaking attention to the human drama that underscores Leviathan, but at the same time - as the name suggests - there are much bigger things going.

| Aug 25, 2018

A palpable and melancholy aura of resignation fills the masterful Leviathan the fourth feature from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev. [Full review in Japanese]

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 19, 2016

Leviathan offers a wry version of the tragedy that occurs when normal people challenge entrenched hierarchies.

| Jul 19, 2016

If anyone is curious what life is like for the average battler in Vladimir Putin's Russia, Leviathan, the masterly new film from director Andrey Zvyagintsev, offers some revealing and disturbing answers.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 2, 2015

A brutal Russian masterpiece.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Mar 26, 2015

Early and strong contender for this year's best miserable time at the movies.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 26, 2015

Heavy stuff but highly rewarding, and an illuminating look into a country still steeped in its brutal past.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 26, 2015

The Russian Federation's 2015 Academy Award entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category (it lost to Poland's Ida) lives up to its title and then some.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 26, 2015

Yes, this could happen anywhere, but you get the feeling it happens often in Russia. The only real hope here is that a movie this hard on the motherland could be made there.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 20, 2015

"Leviathan" plays like downer Tolstoy, masterfully specific to these people and unforgivingly allegorical toward the country at large.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 19, 2015

A story of political and spiritual corruption, of men and women accustomed to power, and of others fighting against it.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 13, 2015

At times the movie suggests a Cheech and Chong comedy with cannabis replaced by vodka.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 12, 2015

An observant and skillfully crafted film about corruption in modern-day Russia.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 5, 2015

Enormously captivating, a study of oppression, human nature and the effect of the two things upon each other.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 5, 2015

Call it what you like - a modern Russian epic, a crime drama, a black comedy or a scream in the dark - Leviathan is a shaggy masterpiece.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 23, 2015

Andrey Zvyagintsev's Oscar-nominated and vodka-soaked satire of modern Russia, which plays more like tragedy.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 22, 2015

As harshly beautiful as the Barents Sea coastline where it is set, this parable inspired in part by the biblical tale of Job dumps more misfortune than one hapless man should ever have to endure.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 22, 2015

From its chamber-piece delicacy and bureaucratic detail to a grandeur and implacable pessimism that seem as ancient as the land itself, "Leviathan" is a distinctly Russian tragedy.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 22, 2015

This is quite a movie, a bitter and compassionate work of genius that will reward repeat viewings and keep on getting better.

| Jan 13, 2015

The masterful script deals with telling words.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 9, 2015