The story is set in a fishing village by the Barents Sea, but in fact, even for today's China, the story has strong practical significance. The director balances a heavily pessimistic realism with a distinctive Russian humor and a poetic aesthetic. Whether it is from the script itself, or from camera to editing to rhythm control, it is quite memorable.
Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky's "Sadness" is always reminded of in the movie, but perhaps the low and melancholy voice and the heaviness on the shoulders are already part of the Russian nationality.
There is no background music throughout the film, but the opening and closing sequences of minimalist composer Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten are impressive.
Back to the title of the movie. Leviathan is the earliest recorded sea serpent in the Old Testament:
Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
Will he keep begging you for mercy ? Will he speak to you with gentle words?
The meaning of it in the film is left to everyone to interpret.
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