Leviathan

Name: Leviathan
Genre: Documentary
Released: March 1, 2013
Duration: 87 min
Rating: 81

2013

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Ratings

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6.0	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Ratings

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Leviathan

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Movie Details & Credits

Cinema Guild | Release Date: March 1, 2013 | Not Rated

Summary: Filmed off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the country’s largest fishing port with over 500 ships sailing from its harbor every month, Leviathan follows one such vessel, a hulking groundfish trawler, into the surrounding murky black waters. Filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Sweetgrass) and Verena Paravel (Foreign Parts) use aFilmed off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the country’s largest fishing port with over 500 ships sailing from its harbor every month, Leviathan follows one such vessel, a hulking groundfish trawler, into the surrounding murky black waters. Filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Sweetgrass) and Verena Paravel (Foreign Parts) use a dozen cameras to present a vivid representation of the work, the sea, the machinery and the players, both human and marine. [Cinema Guild]
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Director: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 87 min

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Critic Reviews

100

The Telegraph Tim Robey

Dec 12, 2013

It’s really a radical experiment in non-fiction cinema – not seeking to enlighten or inform, but to disorientate us, practically to drown us, in a nightmare vision of the ocean’s power. Read full review

100

Feb 22, 2013

Leviathan is a titanic achievement, a visceral overload whose impact registers immediately and with great force. Read full review

The Playlist Gabe Toro

Mar 1, 2013

The experience of Leviathan is wholly singular, without context, enveloping and immersive. In some ways, it might very well be the most terrifying picture of the year. Read full review

Joshua Rothkopf

Feb 26, 2013

The first and only piece of advice needed on one’s way to the fishing pond is this: Bring your patience. Not surprisingly, the same could be said to a viewer of this slow-building but riveting experimental collage. Read full review

Empire Ian Freer

Nov 25, 2013

Part fishing documentary, part filmmaking experiment, Paravel and Castaing-Taylor is remarkable, disorientating and unique gem. Read full review

Farran Smith Nehme

Feb 28, 2013

The adventurous souls who stick with it, however, will find head-spinning images and a cumulative impact that does, in fact, amount to a story. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Mar 1, 2013

The result is a self-conscious tone poem concocted from oblique camera angles, shots held longer than it takes a tadpole to reach maturity and nighttime images enhanced with a psychedelic glow. An alternate title for it might be "David Lynch, Gone Fishin'." Read full review

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User Reviews

PizzaWizard

Jan 6, 2014

This is easily one of the best movies I've seen in the past few years. No story, no bull, pure cinema. I think it really needs to be experienced in a theater though because the sound design is phenomenal. This won't be everyone's, or even MOST people's, cup of tea, however if you are a fanThis is easily one of the best movies I've seen in the past few years. No story, no bull, pure cinema. I think it really needs to be experienced in a theater though because the sound design is phenomenal. This won't be everyone's, or even MOST people's, cup of tea, however if you are a fan of experimental or non narrative cinema then this is mandatory viewing. The scope is small but feels gigantic, the images are beautiful and haunting. Just go see it, hopefully you'll understand.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

alwayswatching

Oct 17, 2014

I don't understand why this movie has such a high metascore. I watched the whole movie in hope that it gets better but it didn't. Don't waste your time.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

theahsanhaseeb

Oct 23, 2013

Don't understand all the praise Leviathan is getting and why the critics and majority of the audience are loving it. To me, it's the worst documentary film ever made, and I love watching documentaries.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

theOddFlick

Oct 31, 2013

Great movie making or oops, I forgot the "record" button was left on. Ummm, I am opting for the later. Some terrific visuals but extending them "forever" does not make them better, it only lessons the impact and tires the viewer. Editing, editing, editing. It sorely needs some!

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Savvy

May 16, 2013

This film was lazy, inartistic, intentionally annoying and massively indulgent. The shots were mostly shaky head cams on the fishermen often too dark to see anything. Or the camera was dangled pell-mell in the wake and the audience watched long stretches (like 5 minutes with no cutaways) ofThis film was lazy, inartistic, intentionally annoying and massively indulgent. The shots were mostly shaky head cams on the fishermen often too dark to see anything. Or the camera was dangled pell-mell in the wake and the audience watched long stretches (like 5 minutes with no cutaways) of churning bubbles. Or the cam was dropped in a pen of sloshing fish for 15 minutes--no music, no voice over, often no discernible images. The quality of filmmaking is the equivalent of when you leave your video camera on by accident and it bounces along by your leg filming the ground? That boring, throw-away less-than-B-roll mess? Leviathan. There were tiny snatches of beauty; the first shots of the birds were stunning--until they went on and on and on and then were repeated later in the film in the same hammeringly repetitive manner. Augh! Not "avant garde" but truly awful posing as important.

I love thoughtful docs and entertaining avant garde pieces... but this was the most punishing film to sit through, with so few moments of clarity, it made me angry. I pity the poor film students who will have to endure this exercise in bludgeoning boredom.… Expand

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

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