Leviathan review

Breaking the waves...

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Named after the sea monster in the Book of Job, this look at life on a fishing trawler is more art installation than documentary.

Bombarding the viewer with disorientating images of clanking machinery, butchered fish and whirling seagulls, filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel ask us to fill in the blanks in the absence of a PoV or voiceover.

The results – achieved through small cameras clipped to nets, masts and the crew – will hook some and induce seasickness in others.

Yet surrender to its rhythms and you’ll find poetry in its anthropological austerity.

Freelance Writer

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic who has written for several publications, including Total Film. His bylines can be found at the BBC, Film 4 Independent, Uncut Magazine, SFX, Heat Magazine, Popcorn, and more.