Eastern Promises: Movie Review, Trailer (2007)

9/27/2007 Posted by Admin

Don't do it

(Originally published 2007)

Directed by David Cronenberg, written by Steve Knight, 96 minutes, rated R.

Watching David Cronenberg's “Eastern Promises,” which joins "The Brave One" and "3:10 to Yuma" in being among the first intelligent, adult-oriented films of the new season, is like shaking off all the bad memories that tend to go hand-in-hand with the dog days of summer.

Sitting there in the dark looking up at the screen, where a skilled director is at work and the acting is a veil, you find yourself immersed in the surprise of a gripping story peopled with real characters. There is no "Underdog" here, no "Balls of Fury," no "Mr. Woodcock," no "Mr. Bean's Holiday." And while, yes, there obviously is a demand for those films, after a summer clogged with too much "Shrek," it feels good to be in the presence of the real thing again.

"Eastern Promises" is the real thing, a movie arranged to engage, shake and provoke. Steve Knight wrote the script, which sets the story in the dreariest version of London audiences have seen since, say, "Dirty Pretty Things," which Knight also wrote. He shouldn't expect the key to the city anytime soon. Like that movie, "Promises" exposes London’s uglier corners in ways that that city might sooner want you to forget.

The film explores the Russian mafia's stronghold over London, with Viggo Mortensen again teaming with Cronenberg after their successful pairing in 2005's "A History of Violence." Here, their collaboration flourishes, with Mortensen outstanding as Nikolai, a driver of few words ("I drive car") whose employer is a powerful, corrupt family led by the coolly evil Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl).

Typical of a mob story, Semyon is a hive of complexities (more Brando, less Gandolfini), perhaps more proud of his borscht than he is of his son, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), a screw-up of the first order who Semyon is working to contain.

But when a nurse named Anna (Naomi Watts) comes into their lives with the diary of a dead Russian girl whose life ended while giving birth, Semyon's focus wavers. Now he must not only keep his unstable son in line, but also Anna, who has no idea that the contents of that diary, written in Russian, can implicate Semyon and his family, and bring them down.

Who does Semyon turn to for help? Naturally, solid, dependable Nikolai. Trouble is, solid, dependable Nikolai secretly is attracted to Anna in ways that deepen the movie with satisfying twists along Cronenberg’s dark playing field.

Filled with scenes of note--the most talked about being Mortensen’s expertly handled, nude fight in a Turkish bathhouse--"Eastern Promises" is a fresh blast of toxic air that lingers. It's a movie about good and evil first, violence second, and while it might seem while watching the movie that I have that backwards, it isn't the slitting of throats you consider after walking away from the film, but those who chose a life of violence, those who chose to resist it, and the vague reasons why.

Grade: A-

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