Leviathan, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s (Elena) controversial potential Oscar contender, has its first official trailer out. Packed to the gills with vodka, death threats, assault rifles, prehistoric bones, and critical accolades, the film comes off as intense and unforgiving as the biblical monstrosity it shares its name with.

Kolia lives in a small town near the Barents Sea, in North Russia. He has his own auto-repair shop. His shop stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya and his son from a previous marriage Romka.
Vadim Sergeyich, the Mayor of the town, wants to take away his business, his house and his land. First he tries buying off Kolia but Kolia isn’t interested in money, he doesn’t want to lose everything he has: not only the land, but also all the beauty that has surrounded him from the day of his birth. As Vadim Sergeyich starts being more aggressive, Kolia asks his best friend Dmitri, a lawyer from Moscow, to help him, unaware that this would change his life forever.

Leviathan is being distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. It will play in select theaters December 31, 2014, with a wider release to come at a later date.