5) Leviathan (Dec. 31)
Not to be confused with the astounding ethnographic documentary of the same name from 2012, the latest drama from Russian master Andrey Zvyagintsev was once touted to be the frontrunner for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Although it earned the best screenplay title there, many film critics believe the film was robbed of the top honor.
After its sterling reception in Cannes (and more recently in Toronto), Zvyagintsev is being deemed one of the new great auteurs of world cinema. The Russian director’s latest is an ambitious film, inspired by the Book of Job. It centers around a family in rural, northwestern Russia, concerning a legal battle between patriarch Kolya (Alexei Serebryakov) and the town’s mayor Vadim (Roman Madyanov). Vadim wants to buy the land where Kolya’s family has lived for many generations, but the mayor is finding that some big secrets could come to light if things do not go over well.
Critics have praised Leviathan for having an expansive visual style reminiscent of Tarkovsky, as well as elements of Hollywood melodrama and sordid Coen Brothers-esque humor. Given the world’s prickly reception to much of Russia’s actions on the political stage and the film’s foregrounding of a divide between the authority and the Russian people, this should be a very topical movie that could define much of the current zeitgeist from that country.
The film may be slow and meditative, but its searing look into modern social life in Russia should be an eye-opener. Meanwhile, with a score from Philip Glass, Leviathan should sound as good as it looks. This is another title to not be surprised about if it earns a foreign language film nomination at the next Academy Awards.
