Leviathan

LEVIATHAN

Directors : Lucien Castaing - Taylor and Verena Paravel

Year : 2013

Genre : Experimental

Rating : ****

Not so much a documentary than an exercise in surrealism and immersion, 'Leviathan' is an astonishing and indescribable picture that explores the activity of the North American fishing industry through oblique camera work and inventive cinematography. Directed by anthropologist Lucien Castaing - Taylor and ethnographer Verena Paravel, the movie does an extraordinary job of captivating our imaginations and subverting our expectations of documentary cinema through hypnotic imagery and sensory abstraction.

From the strange exposition to the inexplicably beautiful finale, 'Leviathan' explores every nook and cranny of a boat floating in the middle of the Atlantic. We witness the capture of thousands of fish, their eventual execution and even the grotesque and disturbing gutting and beheading of the unfortunate sea life caught in the death nets. As well as exploring the fates of the unlucky fish caught, we follow the exploits of seagulls flying above the boat waiting for the dumping of the carcasses and the lives of the nameless fisherman who carry out the most remedial of tasks from captain to rigger.

Unlike most documentaries, 'Leviathan' has no sense of narrative and due to the lack of interviews or explanation for the actions on screen, we are left with a sense of oblivion and an almost terrifying element of the unknown. Instead of dialogue, the screenplay consists of the endless crashing of the sea against the side of the boat, the incessant cawing of the gulls and the squishing of fish heads and guts hitting the metal deck and this adds an unexplainable air of realism and places us right on board the boat with the rest of the crew. We feel the toil, we feel the strain and we feel the rain and the wind that is constantly buffeting against their faces and this makes 'Leviathan' the most immersive and the most visceral movie of 2013.

An almost impossible film to explain and even more impossible to recommend, 'Leviathan' will have little to no audience. But if you are a fan of art house cinema, independant cinema or even the works of such avant-garde directors as David Lynch, then give 'Leviathan' a go. It certainly benefits from a big screen and a good sound system which transports you to a world of cold, blood, toil and rain; all told through the most innocuous but beautiful of almost hallucinogenic imagery.