Eastern Promises (2007)

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Eastern Promises has been praise as one of David Cronenberg's finest films, for several reasons. Although the film is well acted by it's leads, and the scenery is wonderful, the overall storyline and plot of the film tends to lag and is not as intriguing or entertaining as many make it out to be. Eastern Promise is quite short in running time which in this case there could have been more time to develop other plot points. The main criticism of this film is that the storyline is not intriguing and it is very predictable. And rather boring and bland at times. We understand what will occur throughout, and the suspense is very non- existent. No twists or key points which make the viewers wanted more. The acting is well thought out as Cronenberg is prime with Viggo Mortensen for another collaboration, and Naomi Watts delivers her role thoughtfully. Very few scenes of strong violence, and it is very far and in between. The violence occurs only quickly and is not as stable and throughout or unexpecting as it could have been.

Anna (Naomi Watts) is a midwife of English / Russian parentage who earns her living in London. One night she helps to deliver the baby for a teen aged girl, who dies in childbirth. Finding a diary among the girls' belongings, she hopes to get it translated so that she can give the baby to whatever family the girl has. In so doing, she gets mixed up with a Russian mob family, including its boss, Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), his sleazy son Kirill (Vincent Cassel), and Kirills' loyal chauffeur / muscle man Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen).Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg again delivers a film that is equal parts engrossing, interesting, and reasonably intelligent. Working from a screenplay by Steven Knight, he does an impressive job of immersing us in an exotic environment. The mood and the feel of the material are just right. Although Cronenberg unfortunately seems to have left his "body horror" era far behind by this point, there is some very effective violence here and there courtesy of Stephan Dupuis.The film travels far on the charisma of its leading man Mortensen, who is utterly convincing as this enigmatic character. But the whole cast is excellent, really. Watts is an appealing protagonist, Cassel is most amusing, and Mueller-Stahl is a treat as the aged, reserved mafia boss. Other sturdy contributions are made by Sinead Cusack and Jerzy Skolimowski as Annas' aunt and uncle, Tatiana Maslany (voice only), Mina E. Mina, and Donald Sumpter. Some of Mortensens' fans will be truly delighted to see him show off the goods in a key bath house sequence.Certain story twists, the location shooting, and the crisp photography all help to make this very fine entertainment. Cronenberg works alongside a few of his frequent collaborators: cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, production designer Carol Spier, editor Ronald Sanders, composer Howard Shore, and costume designer Denise Cronenberg (the directors' sister).Eight out of 10.

Naturally, most representations of criminal worlds have two layers - the top is all glitz and glamour, the crown jewels, the front in the money laundering that boasts of the wealth that comes with these sorts of illegal activities like drugs and human trafficking. And then there is the bottom layer, grimy and devoid of morals, which in this film follows Nikolai, the driver of the Russian mob in London, but whom is trusted more than the son of the top boss himself, and is asked to do a lot more than just drive. They frequent in a restaurant that is always buzzing with atmosphere and hosts elderly birthday parties while bodies are being cut up out back, and Seymon oversees both operations with ease. Cronenberg has always been one for bodily horror, and here he does not shy away. But it does not hold the same grotesque power as Videodrome or The Fly; there are two instances of throats being slit, and in each of them the camera lingers much longer than necessary, but the way the blood spurts explosively and excessively is almost comical. The quietly desperate fight sequence in the bath is the best scene in the film, because it does not attempt to overshadow, and it has a vulnerable quality that few films possess whenever the protagonist has to fight more than one person. This stems from the fact that Mortensen is buck naked, which presents every inch of his tattooed body as a target, and each the effect of glancing blow, each bloody wound and the gleam of the knives is magnified intensely. There is Seymon's son, Kirill, who in some films would be a uncompromising brute, but here he carries a hint of a sensitivity about him that suggests that he is putting it on for his father. It is hinted, through the narrative voice-over, that he is a homosexual and unable to even rape the prostitutes, which Seymon viciously reprimands. Cassel's performance is perfectly overeager and willing - see as he uses ice cream humour to lighten the mood of a heavy task, and vigorously smothers the girl gyrating on the stripper pole and demands that he see Nikolai f*ck one of them with his very own eyes - you suspect he is vastly overcompensating and projecting his own insecurities. And then when it all cracks, and he cannot throw a baby into the river like they did with another corpse earlier, we see how his life has been tragically chosen for him. It is unfortunate that the other plot of Naomi Watts' Anna Ivanova is less riveting. There is a tension between her and the ex-KGB father, and hints of a backstory that is not expanded upon (a delightful moment in the next morning, where Anna's father's pride prevents him from apologising openly, but he stumbles through an alternate option of sorts). Her motherly instincts cause her to bump into the mob and its underworld...but not in any tangible way. Cronenberg leans heavily on the diary's voice-over in order to build it up, but shows none of it in his camera. This is by far the cleanest London I have seen on film. The characters, whom have done some despicable things between them, are often bathed in a warm yellow light from overhead, like a hovering halo in the night. In daytime, the streets are pristine (Cronenberg, to his credit, does not toss in a shot of Big Ben or the palace). We see the lavish restaurant front, the top layer, but not the bottom one. It is no surprise that the bath fight has no such glow, but reeks of sterility until the first drop of blood is spilled.Mortensen is what pulls it all together. His accent is not hammy but convincing, at least enough to fool every member of the mob. A different film would establish him as the mole, and create tension by pushing him against moral ambiguity, and making us desperately hope he does not cave, yet also hoping his cover is not blown. Mortensen lives and breaths Nikolai, and when the twist is revealed, it is not so surprising because he does not dive right back to his real identity. With each carefully pronounced syllable, a cigarette ever present in the corner of his mouth, and the ease in which he carries out the duties of the mob, he makes us believe he has earned every single tattoo, and all the horrible things he has done to acquire them. They have not left his eyes.

A lot Promising Viggo Mortensen, alongside with the smoothly menacing Mueller-Stahl, is the star of this film. But Mortensen, his killer looks, his shades, that one crooked smile, the thick accent and designer clothes, of which 'the British Telegraph'notices that the 'shirt's collar is so high that his throat is barely visible, he straddles the line between cartoon-inhuman villains like Max Headroom and Robocop', steals the show.As one might expect, Eastern Promises has its fair amount of ultra violence, which Cronenberg seems to enjoy adding even when his films appeal most to adult audiences. Such as the opening: A brutal barbershop scene - The movie itself is well done, with a relatively well-paced story, some interesting developments and strong characters.A Mafia Boss, who looks as if a simple restaurant owner but turns out to be the head of Vory V Zakone (people-traffickers). And obviously the heir to the throne the alcoholic son Kirill (Vincent Cassel) and his chauffeur, Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen). Lastly, an east London midwife nurse, Anna (Naomi Watts), determined to get to the source of the death of a 14-year-old sex slave, who's infant she helped delivered, with the business card she found in the teenager's diary which after translated by her uncle turns out to be full of incriminating details about drugs and prostitution.The film is partly sets the audience on a thriller ride about whether or not this decent characters will avoid a violent end, or will end up violently. Even with great direction and writing, a few questions remains; as it does! But as for the 'Cast' - their top notch performances, surely lived up way beyond expectations - As Promised!