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Eastern Promises [2007]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

David Cronenberg's signature obsessions flower in Eastern Promises, a stunning look at violence, responsibility, and skin. Near Christmas time in London, a baby is born to a teenage junkie--an event that leads a midwife (Naomi Watts) into the world of the Russian mob. Central to this world is an ambitious enforcer (Viggo Mortensen) who's lately buddied up with the reckless son (Vincent Cassel) of a mob boss (Armin Mueller-Stahl, doing his benign-sinister thing). Screenwriter Steve Knight also wrote Dirty Pretty Things, and in some ways this is a companion piece to that film, though utterly different in style. The plot is classical to the point of being familiar, but Cronenberg doesn't allow anything to become sentimental; he and his peerless cinematographer Peter Suschitzky take a cool, controlled approach to this story. Because of that, when the movie erupts in its (relatively brief) violence, it's genuinely shocking. Cronenberg really puts the viewer through it, as though to shame the easy purveyors of pulp violence--nobody will cheer when the blood runs in this film. Still, Eastern Promises has a furtive humour, nicely conveyed in Viggo Mortensen's highly original performance. Covered in tattoos, his body a scroll depicting his personal history of violence, Mortensen conveys a subtle blend of resolve and lost-ness. He's a true, haunting mystery man. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

Stills from Eastern Promises (click for larger image). Photos by Peter Mountain.


Vincent Cassel (left) and Viggo Mortensen (right).


Armin Mueller-Stahl.
Viggo Mortensen (left) and Naomi Watts (right)

Viggo Mortensen (left) and Naomi Watts (right).
Naomi Watts.
Armin Mueller-Stahl (left) and Naomi Watts (right).

Mina E. Mina (left), Vincent Cassel (center) and Viggo Mortensen (right).
Vincent Cassel.
Viggo Mortensen.


Brutal and engrossing, and you'll learn how to use snippers to clip off a corpse's frozen fingers
Review date: 2008-12-03 Rating: 8 out of 10

Is it possible to take seriously a movie where the violent highlight is a vicious fight in a public bath? The fight requires, of course, that at least one of the male fighters be nude. In this case, it's the lead actor and there are no flopping bits that we don't see. Another requirement would be that knives must be involved so that we can get plenty of blood, along with wince-inducing moments when blades slice into back and stomach muscles. And for a coup de grace, what could be more ick worthy than a blade driven into an eyeball, with the crunch of the socket bone being shattered?

The bathhouse fight in Eastern Promises may be exploitive, but it's one of the most exciting, stunningly choreographed brawls I've seen on a screen. More to the point, it tells us something about the kind of man Nikolai is. He's the man who survives, and he's a lot tougher, smarter, more resourceful and more violent than we may have thought...and that's saying something, since we've already watched him "process" a corpse for anonymous disposal. It involved removing the teeth and fingers using pliers and a snipper.

Viggo Mortensen plays Nikolai, the driver, as he calls himself, for the head of a powerful and vicious gang of Russian mafia based in London. Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), the old man who owns the Trans-Siberian Restaurant, rules his criminal empire with guile and force. He is an aging man with white hair clipped short. He can be a friendly sort at times. He makes a wonderful pot of borscht. He plays the violin. He has daughters. He encourages his angels, his granddaughters, to learn the violin. "You must practice more," he tells them. "You must make the wood cry." Semyon spends much of his time running drugs and prostitution. He brings in underage girls from Eastern Europe who think they'll be maids and waitresses, then imprisons them, hooks them on heroin, brutalizes and breaks them with rape and beatings, and puts them to work. One 14-year-old girl escapes. She can barely speak English. She's pregnant and hemorrhaging. When she dies in a hospital her baby is saved and her diary is found. Eastern Promises is going to tell us about Anna (Naomi Watts), the nurse who helped deliver the baby and found the diary; about Semyon and the lengths he will go to protect himself, his power and his son; and about the driver, Nikolai, the man Semyon trusts as much as he would trust anyone. We're going to learn more than we want about Kirill (Vincent Cassel), Semyon's son. Kirill is a weakling who likes to beat people, a drunk, a man who breaks in the frightened girls by raping them on his father's orders and beats them when he can't perform. At one moment he embraces Nikolai as a brother, another he forces Nikolai into humiliating acts. Kirill grovels for his father's approval and beats others when he doesn't get it.

Eastern Promises is a fine movie, violent, complex and ugly. We're deep in London's Russian mafia, where violent thugs have tattoos that tell each other the story of their crimes, their murders and their imprisonments. Family is the only thing that counts, and even that becomes a repugnant concept. Moving through this is Nikolai, slab-faced, pale, calm to the point of being unnerving. When he seems drawn to Anna, we're never quite sure whether this will mean a degree of tenderness, or her death, or the death of the baby who has become a lever some would use against Semyon. "I'm just the driver," Nikolai says.

Through it all I was engrossed, partly with the world of these tattooed, dangerous men, partly with the subtle way David Cronenberg fiddled with my reactions and assumptions, and partly with just how good the actors were. Mortensen gave a stunning performance, down to his Russian-accented English, to his physicality and to the way he kept us off-balance with his intentions. Just as good was Armin Mueller-Stahl as Semyon. He has given us any number of wise old men to admire. Here he gives us a monster, opening layer upon layer of cruelty and betrayal. Mueller-Stahl just asking Anna with avuncular concern where she lives is able to raise the dread level with no effort at all.

There is a twist that cannot be described, and which I wish hadn't happened. Even with that, Eastern Promises is a movie worth seeing and owning.

The look of the film is just as tough and dark as the story. And if you're of a certain age, you'll remind yourself to buy Cronenberg's Scanners (for your kids, of course) when you pick up Eastern Promises.

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Reviews


Promised and delivered
Review date: 2008-11-23 Rating: 10 out of 10

I had been anticipating this films release onto DVD for several months having missed the opportunity to view it at the cinema through illness or other commitments. On no level was I disappointed.
This film is just so utterly refreshing in the modern climate for film making, where average films are being amassed with credit as there is such an abundance of below mediocre plots and characters portrayed on our silver screens. I am not stating that there have been no recent films that have been brilliant just that the sheer number of below par productions so vastly outshine the good productions and so when a film is slightly above average it appears better than it would if say more interesting films were released.

The plot is simple yet edgy, gritty yet involving and the acting across the board is brilliant. The film is shot in a very realistic fashion rather than the over lit, over tampered manner of which many Hollywood blockbusters are shot.

A few months on the film still remains most memorable and this in turn highlights the strength of the film, I would highly recommend this film to any fan of the genre, those not accustomed to this genre may find some of the violence somewhat intense but the in my opinion the scenes of the violence are used sensibly to highlight the intensity of certain scenes and the grizzly undertones constantly present in the plot.

In short a film that surpassed my expectations and in this films case the expectations where already rather high.


Would have been 4* if it wasnt for the last 20 minutes
Review date: 2008-11-22 Rating: 4 out of 10

I'm not a Cronenberg fan but after seeing the fantastic 'A History of Violence' and hearing some good word of mouth reviews I decided to check out Eastern Promises.

Everything is in place for a good movie, good script, cracking cast, decent premise. So what goes wrong?

Well, in 2 words? - the end - I was really into the film, really gripped and thoroughly enjoying it until the final 15/20 minutes.

The cast do a good job with a well written script and intriguing storyline - although be warned, you'll need to put up with some dodgy Russian accents - all the hard work is done and everything is moving along nicely until the final 15 minutes when it's all thrown away for the jumbled, open ended, rushed, abrupt and unsatisfactory conclusion.


2/3 of the film are 4* but the final 1/3 doesnt even rate 1*

Pity

Doesn't match promise
Review date: 2008-11-13 Rating: 4 out of 10

I've really enjoyed the work of director David Cronenberg over the years, so I watched Eastern Promises with anticipation. Naomi Watts plays a London midwife who takes an interest in the case of a young East European girl who dies in childbirth. From the girl's diary she makes contact with a seemingly respectable Russian businessman, Armin Mueller-Stahl, but later learns he's involved in Russian Organized Crime, the girl has been trafficked and forced into prostitution, and the businessman's son is the baby's father. The male lead is Viggo Mortensen, who plays a "driver", but actually muscle within the organization. His character has a tough exterior but within lies a spark of humanity, so he helps Naomi Watts' character to discover the truth about the girl, rescue her from his boss, and so on.

The trafficking of young East European girls into sex slavery in the West is a hugely important issue. The problem with this film is that it tries to work as a character-driven thriller but falls down because of numerous implausibilities. The Mortensen character has ambitions within ROC but doesn't appear to know much about people trafficking, yet it's one of their most lucrative businesses. He's complicit in the rape of a sex slave but secures her freedom, by tipping off police about her alone - the police don't appear to be interested about all the other girls kept in the house, or how they got there. Naomi Watts, who does a perfect English accent, appears to keep the dead girl's baby in an empty delivery theatre for most of the film. Later she says she doesn't want the baby to be fostered, as if social services wouldn't have got involved immediately. When Mortensen's character is admitted to hospital after a knife fight, she just happens to be strolling down a corridor and sees him being wheeled on a trolley.

When a film tackles such an important and sensitive issue as trafficking, it has a duty to do it in a way that respects the intelligence of the audience, or else the film will come over as tacky and exploitative.

Okayish
Review date: 2008-10-30 Rating: 6 out of 10

Not too bad a film, was quite disappointing after all the hype I'd read about it. As gangster films go, this is okay, no where near most of the others though.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Vincent Cassel
Viggo Mortensen
Naomi Watts

Creators:
Viggo Mortensen (Primary Contributor)
Vincent Cassel (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Pathe Distribution
Manufacturer: Pathe Distribution
EAN: 5060002835906
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-02-25
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 97 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)

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