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  Synopsis:
Set
in modern day London, Eastern Promises focuses
on a concentrated Russian-populated area of the
city. A 14 year old girl finds her way to
an emergency room after hemorrhaging. Her
child is rescued, but she dies. Anna
(Naomi Watts), a doctor on staff during the
girl's treatment, locates a small diary in the
girl's purse. With the interpretation of
her father in law, Anna embarks on a mission to
try to find the girl's family, a mission that
turns quite dangerous when the Russian mafia
starts becoming connected to the case.
Befriending a limo driver named Nikolai, Anna
creates an odd bond between citizen and criminal
and soon she doesn't know who to trust.
The Freak's
Rating: B- : A
couple years back, David Cronenberg brought A
History Of Violence to the screen. It was
one of the most violent, yet critically praised
films of 2005. For me, it was an OK movie,
but lacking in some story and over the top in
other moments. Brutal sex scenes and
gratuitous violence seemed to be Cronenberg's
style and I for one wasn't loving it. So
when the latest re-teaming of Cronenberg and his
muse, Viggo Mortensen was suggested for me to
see, I cringed a little. I've tried to get
my movie-loving cousin
Angie to use
this site more than she already does. She
is the one who first inspired me to create a
place where movie lovers could voice their
opinions, yet still falls a little behind in
reviews. Luckily she has me to give her
crap all the time, so maybe she'll pick up the
pace.
In the opening few scenes of
Eastern Promises, we are thrust into a world of
Russian mafia. For those uneducated on
Russian mafia, there are differences to
Italians. Italians sometimes insult and
definitely don't respect the opinion of their
women, but are ultimately loyal to their family
above all. Russians tend to degrade women
on a level far worse, even turning young girls
into drug addicted whores they keep all but
chained up, ready for them at their will.
Italians and Russians are similar in the way
they respect "made" men, men who have paid their
dues and worked their way up the chain of
command, loyally following all commands.
Hitting a "made" guy is one of the huge no no's
in both Mafioso sects. A characteristic of
the Russian mafia is their tattoo infatuation.
Your life is told through a series of tattoos if
you are a criminal. Hope that explains the
picture below a little bit to those of you who
no doubt are curious. All of the
aforementioned similarities and differences will
be quite apparent to you once you have viewed
the film.
As I said, I was curious
where Cronenberg would take me with this film,
fearful of another mediocre 2 hours. He
intertwines perfectly Anna and Nikolai's story,
developing these two characters to a point of
realism that most films never get to.
Cinematography perfectly captures the grit of a
mafia film and the story ends perfectly for me.
Some will struggle with accepting the ending,
but for me it was pitch perfect.
Eastern
Promises is a rough, dramatic mafia film that
won't disappoint those who like the genre.
Brian's Rating: D+ :
A movie about the Russian mafia should be cool, however, this one is
not. The movie is hard to follow, slow to develop a plot, and poorly edited.
The acting seemed good, although its hard to figure that out with the thick
accents in the dialog.
My main criticism is that it does a very poor job of making sense of Russian mob
ethics, or the internal code. Most of us know the code of the Italian mob, but
this was not Italian. Most stuff goes entirely unexplained, and therefore it
was confusing to follow.
Not a great movie, nothing I would recommend.
Angie's Rating: B+ :
Storyline is amazing! Acting is well done. A really good drama,
better than We Own The Night.... although, be forewarned, this movie involves
graphic sex and violence. (Could have done without that)
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