- directed by David Cronenberg
In hopes of finding relatives of a newly orphaned newborn a midwife uses the deceased mother's personal diary to track down leads, however, it ultimately leads her into the dark and dangerous world of the Russian mafia.
As much as I say I'm a huge film fanatic and voyeur of the dark and disturbing it's quite embarrassing to have it known that I haven't seen much of David Cronenberg's work. Of course, I've known of him and his work... I just haven't gotten around to diving into it. To make it all the more tragic, the two films I can say I've seen in their entirety are his most commercial and mainstream efforts: A History Of Violence and Eastern Promises. That said, I can't say that's a bad thing; they're great films. And when it all boils down, that's the only thing worth caring about.
Like A History Of Violence, Eastern Promises is a very simple film on the surface... and maybe even deep down? That's hard to say. They've the feel of great, little short stories. They're very linear and focused, which I quite like. They encompass very small and specific worlds. They're little windows to little worlds. And they're very character driven. Both star Viggo Mortensen and he does a great job of shouldering much of the films on his shoulders. He's a wonder to marvel. And I very much like this theme of... ghosts and shadows from the past affecting the present and future. There's a lot to be said of the dark side of humanity and moral ambiguity. It's all very murky and dark. It's very impressionistic. I can't say you'll walk away from either movie being forever changed, but they do linger. And at their root, they're just really great tension-filled suspense films.
8/10 A solid film by anyone's standards. I can't imagine not loving this film. It's simple and well-rounded. It doesn't try to be clever or innovative... it harkens back to a day when films were pure story and less about the technical. Solid, solid, solid.
DS333, a fan.
* Spoilers *
You've all heard about the fight scene and yes, it really does kick ass. A wet dream. ;)
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