Scots Taffer on 27/10/2007 at 03:26

---

This new movie to feature the David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen pairing makes me hope that these guys become the new Tim Burton and Johnny Depp duo. Flawed though I thought A History of Violence was, it was a very interesting take on the whole omerta - "you can never quit the mob" - mentality and it did (imo) a superficial exploration of the duality of a family man who is also a cold-blooded murderer. I want to see more movies with these two working together, I think Cronenberg is quickly developing into one of the most effective commercial directors of this decade, somewhat surprising perhaps given his directorial background being riddled with controversy and decidedly uncomfortable subject matter, and he's found a good muse in Mortensen, who he puts to good work given his acting chops.

Eastern Promises is set in London amid the Russian mafia scene and capitalises on a few real life issues (such as the influx of ex-Soviet Bloc mobsters into the UK and the trafficking of young girls from Eastern Europe into prostitution), and also stars Naomi Watts as a young midwife, who becomes embroiled in the nasty goings-on of the mob after caring for young girl who comes in dying during childbirth, and Vincent Cassel as the erstwhile son of a Russian mafia don, played impassively and expertly by Armin Mueller-Stahl.

I was never a huge fan of Cronenberg's earlier work, it was visually distubing and unhinged in a graphic, fleshy, violent way. I did enjoy much of The Fly and Videodrome though when I saw them as a youth, very effective horror elements running throughout both, and these are employed in Eastern Promises too, subtly. The violence, when it occurs, is sudden, explicit and often quite visceral to watch; it's the sort of cinema that has you flinching from the screen and the crowd gasping while being utterly captivated and needing to watch at the same time, because there's more beyond the sheer viscera, there's story, emotion and character being conveyed in these scenes.

Mortensen is very well cast here, an almost mute, emotionally restrained man, capable of extreme violence but constrained by a rigid code of personal ethics and mafia honour.

It takes some liberties about developing the storyline, for example the beginning and ending are weak points with how the girl escaped the whorehouse in the first place and how Anna was able to successfully adopt Christine at the end, but these are only servicable entry and exit points for a fascinating character study.

Early front-runner for my movie of the year, very highly recommended.

Angel Dust on 29/10/2007 at 03:41

---

What about 'The Dead Zone'? I would recommend it and it's not one of his weirdo gross ones.
Anyway I love Cronenberg and have been looking forward to this one but we don't get it over here for a wee while yet. It's nice to Mortensen getting pushed (acting wise) a bit since he always seemed a bit of an average actor to me but it seems Cronenberg is bringing a real actor out of him. I think you sell 'A History of Violence' a bit short but summing it up as "you can never quit the mob".
Not sure about the Burton/Depp comparison but how about Scorcese/DeNiro? Of course it might be a bit too early in their collaboration for that kind of talk!

Angel Dust on 29/10/2007 at 14:24

---

Not many people have the acting chops of DeNiro! Although he doesn't use them much anymore. I really hope he teams up with Scorcese again.

Kolya on 30/10/2007 at 18:19

---

Maybe because trafficking Russian girls into prostitution tends to draw less silent adoration from (female) viewers than Italian macho talk about the honor of the family. One movie comes to mind: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgM_MO_kPCM) Lilja 4-ever