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| Courtesy of Focus Features |
 Russian Mafia: Vincent Cassel, left, and Viggo Mortensen star in director David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises." |
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Michael Bay is your man if you want to make a three-hour, action-movie extravaganza and spend $200 million doing it.
Call Ridley or Tony Scott if you're looking for a sleekly stylized thriller and John Woo if you love slow-motion doves.
If, however, you are going for a crime drama that will shock you to your core with graphic violence, surprise you with legitimate plot twists and then leave you thinking about it long after the screen has gone dark, your man is David Cronenberg.
If 2005's "A History of Violence" put Cronenberg on moviegoers' collective radar, "Eastern Promises" may very well put him on Oscar's radar.
Unlike the majority of movies these days, it is difficult to boil down "Eastern Promises" to a simple tagline. The bare bones basics go something like this, though: A young Russian girl dies while giving birth. A midwife, played by Naomi Watts, finds the young woman's diary and has it translated. In doing so, she is thrust into the seedy underworld of London's Russian mob.
There is much, much more to the story, which is one of the reasons "Eastern Promises" is garnering such praise. The storyline is complex, driven by multifaceted characters. More than anything, Cronenberg seems to be interested in exploring human nature - especially the dark side of it.
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MOVIE REVIEW
'Eastern Promises'
Rating: ★★★★
Starring: Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts.
Director: David Cronenberg.
Parent's guide: R.
Running time: 1 hour, 36 mins.
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"Eastern Promises" provides ample opportunity. The script by Steven Knight ("Dirty Pretty Things") makes it easy for the director to quickly strike a general sense of fear into the audience. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie a throat is slit in a barbershop and the aforementioned young Russian girl dies during the birth of her baby. From this moment on, there is not a dull moment, and all you can do is watch.
Why doesn't the midwife go to the police immediately upon realizing she might be in peril? Why doesn't she run screaming from the spooky chauffeur who more or less tells her to do just that?
Speaking of the chauffeur, played by Viggo Mortensen, what is driving him? Is he a good man caught in a bad situation? Or is there something he's hiding?
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| Chester Carson |
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There are countless questions like these that come up as the characters become intertwined with one another. Personally, I find the family aspect especially interesting in these gangster movies. In "Eastern Promises," it's an old man (Armin Mueller-Stahl) running the Russian mob out of his restaurant, where more often than not there are grandkids running around.
Family is clearly important to these tyrants, and yet their morals are so twisted and their world is so ugly. The subsequent dynamic is one full of secrets and lies. It's a dynamic that forces powerful criminals to live double lives. They appear to know right from wrong and simply choose wrong.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I did not mention the "bathroom scene." Going in, I had the misguided impression it was going to be a rape scene, and I got sick to my stomach in anticipation. Strangely then, when it was simply a hand-to-hand combat sequence I was somewhat relieved. This does not change the fact that it is a sequence you will not forget anytime soon. It's sufficient to say that it takes place with a stark-naked Mortensen and there is no shortage of blood.
In the end, that is perhaps what makes Cronenberg truly special. It does not matter if you go for the violence or for the artistic brilliance. Either way, "Eastern Promises" is worth your money, and your time.
