I’d never seen any of director Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s work prior to seeing Leviathan (Leviafan), winner for Best Screenplay at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, last week. Not The Return nor Elena, but this is clearly the work of a master storyteller, but it is a dark piece of work that balances corrupt Russian politics with religion and a whole lot of vodka. Today a subtitled trailer for the film arrives giving you a hint of what to expect from the nearly 150-minute drama.
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
Kolia lives in a small town near the Barents Sea, in North Russia. He has his own auto-repair shop. His shop stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya and his son from a previous marriage Roma. Vadim Shelevyat, the Mayor of the town, wants to take away his business, his house and his land. First he tries buying off Kolia, but Kolia cannot stand losing everything he has, not only the land, but also all the beauty that has surrounded him from the day of his birth. So Vadim Shelevyat starts being more aggressive…
The film stars Alexey Serebryakov, Vladimir Vdovitchenkov, Elena Lyadova and Roman Madyanov and Sony Classics will be releasing it later this year and I have full expectation it will be among the Best Foreign Language nominees at the Oscars this year… that is if Russia submits it.
Check out the trailer below.
