Leviathan is an impressionistic study of life

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      A documentary by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel. Unrated. Opens Friday, April 26, at the Cinematheque

      This wordless, music-free movie begins and ends with Gothic type glowing white against biblical darkness, first quoting Job on primal fear—and the aquatic monster of the title—then later acknowledging the countless ships that have gone down off the coast of Massachusetts. In between is the closest thing to being lost at sea that you can experience in a dry, comfy chair.

      This austere, almost psychedelically grainy doc was a labour of love, if that’s what you call it, for the enigmatically named Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, English- and French-born academics, respectively, who shot this purely impressionistic study of life aboard a commercial trawler. (Castaing-Taylor previously made Sweetgrass, about Montana sheepherders.)

      The first third happens mostly at night, with only blurry, sporadically lit close-ups and the clanking of chains yanked from rushing water to tell you where you are or what’s happening.

      The middle is more prosaic but just as challenging if you are at all disturbed by deck-level views of gape-mouthed fish dying on deck or magnificent rays hacked to pieces by a fast-moving crew. We don’t exactly get to know the tattooed, ciggy-smoking sailors aboard this particular leviathan, but we do spend unmeasured time watching them work, shower, and occasionally relax. In one (very) extended sequence, the camera is fixed on one bleary-eyed fellow as he watches TV—an ad for 5-Hour Energy Drink leaving him notably unimpressed.

      Such moments of relatable humanity are rare, however, and the relentless murkiness can either prove numbing or hypnotic, depending on your spiritual inclinations and threshold for boredom and/or anxiety. The filmmakers posit no arguments regarding overfishing, oceanic pollution, or workplace safety standards. Still, Leviathan makes a strong case for being afraid of the deep and, by extension, of God.

      Watch the trailer for Leviathan.

      Comments

      2 Comments

      Nudity Nudity and More Nudity

      Apr 25, 2013 at 8:14pm

      OK so where was the Nudity

      Smarten_Up

      Nov 10, 2013 at 9:19am

      Sorry but this filmmaker is full of it. The film is a waste of our good time, better spent sleeping than watching...

      Just because you are a Harvard professor and go out to sea and get wet and bumped around does NOT make your footage worth seeing. A real tough editing is needed here, such as when I ran this dvd at quadruple fast forward, reducing it to just a few minutes. Even then, some scenes should be deleted.

      Were they really surprised that all flesh food on the plate comes at a high price? Do all these film reviewers and their academic buddies never think about food, until they find themselves on the deck of a trawler? Hey !--HEY! that is real life--and real DEATH, get it Prof???

      Eat some vegetables if you are so guilty, but keep this stuff as a home movie; "What I Did on My Sabbatical..."

      Sound was unhearable, in fact frustrating, more informative as silent on fast forward! And that essay by Cyril Neyrat? Not only must it have been poorly translated, it was written in garbage-academese...sincerely hope no one got tenure for that!