Leviathan

Description

A 10th anniversary re-release of one of the most acclaimed documentaries of the 21st century, Leviathan, from filmmakers Verana Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor (De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Caniba) is a groundbreaking, immersive portrait of the contemporary commercial fishing industry.

Filmed off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts - at one time the whaling capital of the world as well as Melville's inspiration for Moby Dick; it is today the country's largest fishing port with over 500 ships sailing from its harbor every month.

Leviathan follows one such vessel, a hulking groundfish trawler, into the surrounding murky black waters on a weeks-long fishing expedition. But instead of romanticizing the labor or partaking in the longstanding tradition of turning fisherfolk into images, filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel present a vivid, almost-kaleidoscopic representation of the work, the sea, the machinery and the players, both human and marine.

Employing an arsenal of cameras that passed freely from film crew to ship crew; that swoop from below sea level to astonishing bird's-eye views in the sky, the film that emerges is unlike anything that has been seen before. Entirely dialogue-free, but mesmerizing and gripping throughout, it breaks new ground in both cinema and anthropology, while presenting a cosmic portrait of one of mankind's oldest endeavors.