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Andrey Zvyagintsev (1964-)



Filmography

Возвращение / Vozvrashchenie / The Return (2003)

Изгнание / Izgnanie / The Banishment (2007)

Apocrypha (2009) - short made for, but not included in New York, I Love You (2008)

Елена / Elena (2011)

Тайна / Tayna / Mystery (2011) - short

Левиафан / Leviafan / Leviathan (2014)

Нелюбовь / Loveless (2017) - in production

Forum Discussion

The Banishment

New York, I Love You

Elena

Leviathan

Russian Films & Filmmakers

100 Russian and Eastern European Classics project

Zeitgeist Films

Web Resources

Andrey Zvyagintsev official page

Andrey Zvyagintsev's own top 10 list for Sight and Sound

Social Media page in VKontakte (in Russian)

Nationalism: On and Off the Screen - Senses of Cinema article on Leviathan

Film of the week: Leviathan - Ryan Gilbey's review of Leviathan in Sight and Sound

Releases

The Return - blu-ray in region A from Kino Lorber to be released in 2017; DVD in region 1 from Kino and in region 2 in UK from Fox
The Banishment - blu-ray in region A from Kino Lorber to be released in 2017; DVD in region 2 in UK from Artificial Eye
Apocrypha - short is included as extra in New York, I Love You blu-ray in region A from Palm Pictures / Vivendi Entertainment (is SD only)
Elena - blu-ray in region A from Zeitgeist; blu-ray in UK in region B from New Wave Films; blu-ray in Russia in region C from Carmen Video
Leviathan - blu-ray in region A from Sony Pictures; blu-ray in UK in region B from Artificial Eye

A new interview with info about his latest film, Loveless.

Great interview, thanks for sharing!

For its first hour or so, Loveless was in serious danger of becoming my favorite film of the year: Zvyagintsev's excellent visual sensibilities directed at emotionally wrenching scenes and characters laden with subtext and commentary had me fully entranced. Unfortunately, where the first half of the film deeply investigates the members of a family for whom "dysfunctional" is an insufficient description - more like "bilious self-loathing projected onto others like sulfuric acid" - the latter half becomes a procedural that only intermittently digs further into the core characters, and ultimately comes a little short of consistently maintaining the power of the early scenes. I was particularly stunned by Maryana Spivak's fascinating, devastating lead performance as Zhenya, a wife and mother intent on abandoning those roles and immersed in anything that distracts her from them.

I loved Leviathan a few years ago, and Zvyagintsev's followup only confirms that he is a master at unflinching diagnoses of the rot in contemporary society; his perspective is distinctly Russian, but the films feel universal in their provocative dissections of corruption, callousness, and institutional failure. The fact that his and cinematographer Mikhail Krichman's careful compositions and stark imagery make his film's consistently among the most visually stunning in any given year certainly help the painful, bitter content of his films go down more smoothly, if not with any less bite.

Can anyone recommend any worthwhile home video options for Elena or The Banishment? I'd love to cover the rest of Zvyagintsev's filmography, but lower quality/non-HD transfers don't seem like they'd be worth it given how important the visuals are to his work.

Elena has impressive BD editions in both the US and UK.

I also hope you've seen the terrific The Return? I haven't seen anything but that and Leviathan, but both are wonderful (and Return might be my favorite thus far)

Zvyagintsev is the first filmmaker to be celebrated in BFI Southbank's new 'Close Up' strand, where they investigate and focus on some of the most compelling names in contemporary cinema.

LINK

... and from Blu-Ray.com:

British distributors Curzon Artificial Eye have informed us that they are preparing two films from acclaimed Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev for Blu-ray release in April: The Return (2003) and The Banishment (2007).

Pyramide just released in France a BD boxset of his 5 movies. I'll try and have a look at them soon to see if it's technically OK.

Saw Loveless tonight and thought it was another excellent work. I could happily watch films in this mode forever.

Andrey himself seemed an absolute top bloke. Got the sense that the Q&A at HOME, Manchester massively overran, but he was more than happy to keep fielding questions and was talking to those who stayed behind for even more. Very humble and charming through a translator and without pretence.

Pyramide's BD release of Loveless is incorrectly in 1080i, so that's sadly not that flawless (except if it was shot at 25fps but I don't believe so). It's however the only disc of the 5-movies boxset in 1080i.
I had a very quick look at The Return and it seemed quite good looking.

I'm not saying it doesn't look flawless, I'm just saying that it's not playing the movie at the proper speed because of the encode being at 25fps instead of the correct 24fps. Another consequence is that it's likely the pitch of the soundtracks is incorrect too.

I suspect, as it often is the case in France, that the BD was outputted at 25fps because that's the speed for DVD and TV broadcast, with France specifically in mind.
However, it is possible that Pyramide corrected the pitch of the audio tracks.

In an echo of the ambiguity around a key plot element in Zvyagintsev's Leviathan, I'm curious if anyone who's caught Loveless has a strong opinion either way on whether

Spoiler

the corpse the parents view at the morgue is in fact their son, despite their protestations to the contrary.

I was able to catch Loveless again now that it's making its way through the American art house circuit, and it remains as bleakly beautiful and emotionally crushing as ever; however, one of my goals in seeing it again was to settle a seven-month-old disagreement with my Telluride viewing partner, and I'm not sure I have any more insight on this question now than I did going in. Now that it's popped up on a few consensus lists, I wonder if anyone else can offer their opinion.

Reports floating around on social media indicate Zvyagintsev is seriously ill with COVID-19 and has been hospitalized in Germany; varying hearsay about his current state and prognosis.

DarkImbecile wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:09 pm Reports floating around on social media indicate Zvyagintsev is seriously ill with COVID-19 and has been hospitalized in Germany; varying hearsay about his current state and prognosis.

He is now out of his medically-induced coma.