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Directed By
David Cronenberg
Written By:
Steven Knight
Cast:
Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinéad Cusack, Donald Sumpter, Morne Botes, Tamer Hassan, Peter Rnic, Michael Sarne, Jerzy Skolimowski, Badi Uzzaman, Richard Waller, Gergo Danka, Mina E. Mina, Tereza Srbova, Josef Altin, Olegar Fedoro, Andrzej Borkowski, Cristina Catalina, Alice Henley, Boris Isarov, Raza Jaffrey, Yuri Klimov, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Elisa Lasowski, Liam McKenna, Igor Outkine David Papava, Rebecca Reid, Brice Stratford, Faton Gerbeshi, Radoslaw Kaim, Ksenia Lavrentieva, Aleksandar Mikic, Mia Soteriou
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Eastern Promises (2007)
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Movie Review by Chris
September 17th, 2008
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The main ingredients to a well made and successful David Cronenberg are violence and sex, two things which are featured graphically in each of his films. In his previous film, 'A History of Violence', David casted 'Lord of the Rings' star Viggo Mortenson to play as a mysterious man with a killer alter ego. In 'Eastern Promises', Cronenberg introduces us to a more modern day Russian Mob. The one thing which is great about Cronenberg films is that the plot is thin and there is actually not much character, but the films come out so amazing by showing us human nature and the reality of it. His films show how a man can change from events or how they change over time and progressively become aggresive and violent. That was one of the film elements of 'A Hiistory of Violence'. Though I do feel 'Eastern Promises' is a weaker film then his previous, it still is a great movie but has a bit slower pace then his other films have had. Nikolai (Viggo Mortenson) is a driver for a member of the Russian mob. So when a young 14 year old girl is raped and forcefully has a child during her death, a local doctor named Anna (Naomi Watts) uncovers a diary found in her purse. Within the diary shows in chronological order how she was raped and how this young girl thought of suicide and death during her pregnancy.
The bad thing is that the mob is searching for this diary because it could get a lot of important people into a lot of trouble. So Nikolai meets Anna and they become sort of aquainted and he gets the diary, but he is thrown into a deadly game when he gets set up by his friends and brother and soon must make a choice, one which will determine how the mob is run forever. In an Oscar nominated role, Viggo Mortenson puts on the best performance I have seen him play ever. I dont know if he is originally Russian or where he was born, but that accent and style is perfect for an American. Nikolai is always calm and has that expressionless look to him which reminds us that he's not really messing around to much. It did get a little bit to far for him when he was fighting naked in the heat room and such, but his performance was amazing. Naomi Watts plays as Anne, who we dont actually get to much story on throughout. She finds the diary and doesnt play to large of a role here, but she has always been a very hard working and successful actress and keeps her reputation up within this movie.
David Cronenberg dares to show his audience things no other director wouldve shown to them, so it shows he takes risks and wants to surprise us with the films contents. Much like 'A History of Violence', the film is bloody and features some very graphic nude and sex scenes. The major thing is that the movie is sorrounded on or focused around any of those things. Its there and many gore fans and such should enjoy them, but the film isnt all centered around the cuts on his body or the few slit throats the film features. It also adds this gritty kind of reality to it because most of his movies are focused around reality and he seems to do a great job with making characters or actions look real. He also is not the kind of director to go Micheal Bay or Peter Berg style on us and begin shaking the camera and editing like an MTV music video, the soundtrack and movement of the camera is very carefully done and worked with nicely. The editor doesnt take it to an extreme point and it all looks fashionably well.
'Eastern Promises' is a great movie which promises you that youll enjoy it. If your a fan of Cronenbergs work you might find that the pace is daringly slow and some things dont work but its another great entry along with American Gangster and the Godfather.
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