Eastern Promises
Eastern Promises is David Cronenberg's new film and his second in a row with Viggo Mortensen.
Like the previous film, A History of Violence, this one is tight, well paced, has terrific acting and is heavy on violence. However, the story - with a screenplay by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Amazing Grace) is not quite as compelling as Cronenberg's previous film. Don't get me wrong - this is a great film. It just isn't quite up there with Violence.
The film starts off with an extremely violent scene (which I won't tell you about - I had to close my eyes when it was on). We soon cut to a hospital where maternity Nurse Anna (Naomi Watts) is on duty when a pregnant teenager is brought in. She is in very bad shape and doesn't survive. But the baby does. The mother left behind a diary. Anna's uncle is Russian (as was her father) and she hopes that he might be able to translate it. She wants to find the mother's family so that she can give the baby to them. All of this leads her to some very unsavory characters. Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is a restaurant owner but he is also the head of the Russian mob in London. His son Kiril (Vincent Cassel) is a disappointment to his father. He just doesn't have "it." But their driver Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) certainly does.
I am not going to say more about the plot. It is interesting and there are some intriguing twists.
You can see that the film was well researchwd. Cronenberg and company seem to know the ins and outs of the Russian community in London. And I really liked the way the film looked. Mortensen is excellent as Nikolai. His accent is spot on. Mueller-Stahl is also wonderful. But he almost always is. Cassel excels as Kiril. Watts is good but her role isn't as meaty as Maria Bello's in A History of Violence. I also enjoyed seeing the great actress Sinead Cusack - she plays Anna's mother Helen. And Howard Shore's score is top notch.
All in all, Eastern Promises is another fine film that Mr. Cronenberg can put on his resume. I do highly recommend it - just be warned about some of the violence. And I am very much looking forward to what he comes up with next.
Like the previous film, A History of Violence, this one is tight, well paced, has terrific acting and is heavy on violence. However, the story - with a screenplay by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Amazing Grace) is not quite as compelling as Cronenberg's previous film. Don't get me wrong - this is a great film. It just isn't quite up there with Violence.
The film starts off with an extremely violent scene (which I won't tell you about - I had to close my eyes when it was on). We soon cut to a hospital where maternity Nurse Anna (Naomi Watts) is on duty when a pregnant teenager is brought in. She is in very bad shape and doesn't survive. But the baby does. The mother left behind a diary. Anna's uncle is Russian (as was her father) and she hopes that he might be able to translate it. She wants to find the mother's family so that she can give the baby to them. All of this leads her to some very unsavory characters. Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is a restaurant owner but he is also the head of the Russian mob in London. His son Kiril (Vincent Cassel) is a disappointment to his father. He just doesn't have "it." But their driver Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) certainly does.
I am not going to say more about the plot. It is interesting and there are some intriguing twists.
You can see that the film was well researchwd. Cronenberg and company seem to know the ins and outs of the Russian community in London. And I really liked the way the film looked. Mortensen is excellent as Nikolai. His accent is spot on. Mueller-Stahl is also wonderful. But he almost always is. Cassel excels as Kiril. Watts is good but her role isn't as meaty as Maria Bello's in A History of Violence. I also enjoyed seeing the great actress Sinead Cusack - she plays Anna's mother Helen. And Howard Shore's score is top notch.
All in all, Eastern Promises is another fine film that Mr. Cronenberg can put on his resume. I do highly recommend it - just be warned about some of the violence. And I am very much looking forward to what he comes up with next.
posted by Film Fanatic | 7:23 PM
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