Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Erik's thoughts on "Leviathan"


I saw the much buzzed about documentary Leviathan over a week ago at the IFC Center and enjoyed it for what it was. However, I found that I didn't have much to say about it afterwards. While it's unique, it's not something I'd recommend to those less than fully enamored with the concept (there is a longer, slowed down version which exists as an art installation and has been featured in museums). In lieu of a full review, I thought I'd just post the notes I took while watching the film. Most are mere observations (crucial for a movie such as this) with some connections made along the way. As this is certainly a movie that reflects upon what thoughts come about while you're watching it, here is a little snippet of where my mind was at.

-Job 41 quote
-blue gloves, yellow steel chains
-man and sea working side by side, or against one another?
-sounds of the roaring water
-giant net capturing the fish 
-machine that looks like a giant chromatic car wash contraption
-distinct sounds
-hard to get an idea of the space
-this is in the style of a found footage movie; all the "found" footage is real
-disorienting
-ultimate 1st person POV video game
-we lay among dead fish, watching them get beheaded and sliced open with a knife, their guts dripping over their wooden confinement
-workers in orange suits smoke cigarettes and load up fish into barrels
-this is a color-coded movie
-decapitated fish head rolls off into the ocean
-hungry and curious bird pecks the camera lens 
-bird tries to get to the dead fish and struggles 
-camera is on bird's level
-bird gives up
-man's arms, tattoos, freckles
-creases and lines in man's face as rock music and an inaudible intercom blare 
-we can see inside a fish's body by looking through their sliced gills 
-the slicing of fins
-humans are torturing these fish (we can see some of the fish gasping for breath)
-the ship recycles, dumping unused fish guts into the sea
-this is good for the birds
-a flock so very hungry crashes into the water for some dinner
-camera in shower while a man washes himself
-sea of starfish bathed in red
-digging through shells
-an empty beer can lays amongst the shells in front of the camera
-workers' arms, cuts and scrapes, a topless Mermaid tattoo 
-workers working side by side like machines
-never speak to one another until a screeching alert breaks their rhythm
-you can almost smell this movie
-sea-saw feeling when camera is placed in front of the ship, coming towards us
-workers working reflected off glass
-worker mesmerized by an off-screen television set. His eyes are glazed over as the program continues on
-he's falling asleep as a colon flow commercial plays. Constipation product
-racing through water like we're running through the birth canal
-seagulls are back
-camera upside down recording birds flying
-heavy currents
-water gets louder, more fierce, bashing the camera
-vortex of water
-Vertovian rhythmic connection between man and machine
-machine can capture more fish faster than mere man
-humans use machines for survival
-machine also serves as a mass-killing tool

Not recommended

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