In USA/Holywood cinema everything has to be shown explicitely, and additionally explained in case someone did not get it.
In Asia/European cinema the assumption is that an intelligent viewer is paying attention during the movie. They are more like books, giving you time to think and interpret. Some scenes are not shown explicitely, thanks to that they carry much stronger message - you need to engage your imagination. What you don't see is often more frightening/scary/terrible than what is shown.
Instead of bombarding viewer with fast cutscenes and constant action slower pace gives viewer time to think and digest what he has just seen. It gives space to ponder possibilities, to interpret and understand what is happening. It also makes you remember movie messages better, as you had time to take them in. In movies with fast action details will pass too fast to be noticed.
Excellent example of this difference is a japanese animated movie "Castle in the Sky". There are are many scenes where children (main heroes) don't say anything, just do it - they walk and look around, prepare food etc. I was shocked when I discovered that in USA dubbed version there are additional voice-overs in all those "silent" scenes, where children loudly announce what they do and what they see, as if the viewer was blind. This was done to adapt a movie (Asian) to the market (USA).
This is not to say that one or the other (movie or viewer) is simply better. Each cinema style has adapted to the majority of their viewers. Of course there are also exceptions where a slow scene is a poor scene, but in my opinion "Leviathan" has pretty good balance there.
"Leviathan" is full of real drama (most characters have their own) and powerful scenes (such as discussions of mayor with priest).
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