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review: eastern promises (2007)
By vrtualme | September 25, 2007
As David Cronenberg’s (Naked Lunch 1991) most normal film to date, Eastern Promises (2007) seems a bit bland on the surface, but actually stays with you for a while. When leaving the theater I thought “ok”; and seeing a naked Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) in a very vigorous knife fight didn’t hurt any. But I’ve noticed in the time between then and now it’s the movie I’ve talked most about out of the four I saw yesterday. Like an onion there are layers and layers to this script by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things 2002); stories within stories. First you’ve got Naomi Watts (Oscar nominee for 21 Grams 2003) as a London midwife searching for the family of a Jane Doe who dies after giving birth. Then you’ve got Mortensen as a Russian driver and all around thug for Vincent Cassel (Ocean’s Twelve 2004) trying to make a name for himself in the Russian mob. Cassel, the verbally abused son of Armin Mueller-Stahl (Oscar nominee for Shine 1996) trying to prove himself to his father and everyone else. And Mueller-Stahl as the head of the Russian mob trying to keep control and hide his crimes. Did you get all that? But wait there’s more. Oh, just go watch the movie. I’m hoping for some Oscar nods for this one. I’d heard good things about Viggo’s convincing Russian accent, but I can’t even describe how well he pulled this off. And don’t even get me started on the whole tattoo thing! At the official website you can read about what is “quite possibly the longest male nude scene ever in a mainstream Hollywood film.”