2 Best Movies to Watch by Andrey Zvyagintsev

With laws, education, and modern day systems, it seems like the modern man has some means for recourse, at least more than the average person centuries ago. However, despite this, injustices still remain. Leviathan depicts Kolya, a modern day Job, set out to keep his land from the clutches of a corrupt mayor. It’s bleak and depressing, somewhat neorealistic as Kolya goes through various hardships due to political greed, but there’s some wry sense of humor, one that bitterly points out how much hasn’t changed since biblical times. While it’s quite long, Leviathan is likely to move most viewers to tears, and maybe to shots of vodka, due to its depiction of the everyday man.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Aleksei Zharkov, Aleksey Pavlov, Aleksey Rozin, Aleksey Serebryakov, Anna Pereleshina, Anna Ukolova, Dmitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov, Elena Lyadova, Igor Savochkin, Igor Sergeev, Lesya Kudryashova, Margarita Shubina, Marianna Shults, Mariya Shekunova, Olga Lapshina, Roman Madyanov, Sergey Bachurskiy, Sergey Borisov, Sergey Murzin, Sergey Pokhodaev, Valeriy Grishko, Vladimir Vdovichenkov

Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev

Rating: R

Realistic, intimate, and compelling, Elena is a movie that makes you think a lot after you finish watching it. It is an inherently Russian movie, however there is something about how the story is told that makes it a universal family drama. A woman from a modest background to which she still has a lot of attachement is married to an old wealthy business man. Upon learning that the man might write her off his will, she feels pushed to get her hands dirty to honor her responsibilities towards her original family. The question of right and wrong when faced with extreme situations is at the heart of this aesthetically slow-burning family drama.

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Actor: Aleksandr Kazakov, Aleksandr Slastin, Aleksey Maslodudov, Aleksey Rozin, Anastasiya Sapozhnikova, Andrey Smirnov, Anna Gulyarenko, Dana Agisheva, Dmitry Pavlenko, Ekaterina Tarkovskaya, Elena Lyadova, Igor Ogurtsov, Ivan Dobronravov, Ivan Mulin, Larisa Khalafova, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Nadezhda Markina, Nikita Slepchenkov, Oksana Semenova, Olga Lapshina, Vasilii Prokopev, Vasily Michkov, Vasily Zotov, Yana Lvova, Yaroslav Zhalnin, Yuriy Borisov

Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev

Rating: Not Rated