Eastern Promises

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In his latest motion picture effort Eastern Promises, Canadian director David Cronenberg once again relies on third party, nevertheless: exquisite sources to tell a fresh story from, also it is of note that this here latest flick of him was shot entirely in England, the first film Cronenberg directed totally and completely outside of Canada.

Though Cronenberg still should be reckoned as creator and unique representative of the special horror language he developed and been cultivated of via his earlier works, - only Hostile Aliens from Outer Space see this link - recently he exhibits a keen willingness to sew motion picture statements from the fabric of guest screenplays he found worthy to build their corresponding film variants upon.

As of the new millenia, Cronenberg does a quite decent work of arranging the creative output of various authors into solid motion pictures, thus question arises if he is to invent another technocratic bodyhorror yet, - something you can't exactly get quite 'nuff of - or, we might be simply tricked around, and the deliverance of these recent Cronenberg titles are but to sedate our awareness so we could be shocked considerably when he is to offer another thorough sightseeing out of the depths of his personal vision.

Are these though words of doubt and relatively geekish bitterness of not having a technocratic bodyhorror this time around? Sure, partly it is. Yet one can't help but recognize Eastern Promises the masterful work it is. An impulsive flick armed with special merits, as Steven Knight's elegant story and Cronenberg's direction both deliver as solid of a sane, though rather rare mix of social/criminal commentary as we have ever seen. Anticipation is well above considerate when we are but a little less than two hours away from acknowledging the tagline Eastern Promises - well - promises:

Every sin leaves a mark.

We certainly do know that the question should not be if Cronenberg's latest delivery leaves a mark on popular culture. The question should be: how many marks it leaves and how deep they remain? Quite some, baby. Quite deep, baby.

Many do dream about- and wish for a life in the UK or the US as these countries certainly have the reputation of being capable to give everything if one is potent enough to offer something relevant these countries would keenly appreciate. You see, the Russian Mafia happens to be both potent and relevant enough to establish itself in the UK, thus being able to conduct operations of organized crime with a greater degree of precision in the area.

Eastern Promises concentrates on a UK based cell of the organization, presenting three focal characters to render a quite convincing output of the everyday existence of this criminal syndicate. Mr. Seymon, personified by the great actor Armin Mueller-Stahl is the Godfather of the cell, having somewhat of a hard time to make a "decent MOB guy" out of his son, Kirill. This similarly flawless performance of rendering a bohemain quasi-loser first and foremost armed with the conviction of being untouchable because of his inherited rights is solidly delivered by Vincent Cassel. The third focal character on the Mafia's side we will immensely relate to is of Viggo Mortensen's, as this is a welcomed second occasion we see Aragorn directed by David Cronenberg. Yes. I admit this Aragorn stuff have gotten old even before I tried to squash a joke off it, so I won't do that ever again.

Viggo Mortensen's character, Nikolai is assigned as The Driver for Kirill, yet we will swiftly gain an impression as if the Godfather would use Nikolai as a bodyguard for his son, of whom readyness to take care of himself the Boss is not entirely sure about. A rather elegant moral conflict then smoothly embeds into the nice Mafia buildup the film outlines, as a girl called Tatiana gives birth to her daughter, yet the mother dies during the confinement. Turns out that the girl was working as a prostitute for the Mafia cell, even happened to lead a rather detailed diary of all the atrocities she was subjected to by Kirill. The diary is found by a nurse called Anna, - Naomi Watts - but, having no knowledge of Russian language herself, she decides to ask for the help of a friendly Russian immigrant she is familiar with. The situation gets quite interesting, since this immigrant chef Anna knows is none other than the Godfather himself, who conducts and maintains a trusty cover story as Primal Commanding Force at the kitchen of his restaurant.

A Master Chef is waaay more dangerous than a Mafia Godfather, trust me.



Though Eastern Promises throws in some further, quite well developed supportive characters to lead the story on, the narrative remains strictly focused on Anna's intentions to force Kirill face his incompassionate deeds, the deeds she will eventually will be informed of. Also, to find a place and form of existence for the toddler that is the most beneficiary is a key agenda of Anna, yet all these fascinating aspects weigh in as but strong subsidiary background elements when the movie reveals its main dilemma.

The movie introduces a special kind of romance. Romance that seems to have no place, nor legitimacy to unfold, yet develops steadily as its resonators do try to deny its existence. The harder these distant characters try to resist the pull, the closer they wish to be to each other. It works as soon as both parties are willing to acknowledge their fascination with that particular bond. Well, or if at least one of them is ready to acknowledge, I suppose. Though these are the "common mechanics" of humane emotional attraction, your director surely creates elegant paths by establishing subtle, initially silent interpersonal channels between figures that are - seemingly -superfar from each other. Maybe the distance between them will be the focal source of attraction. After all, that is the kind of attraction which seems tasty enough to sink two rows of well defined astral teeth into, yes?

Nikolai goes for a discreet, though evident flirting process to gain Anna's attention. The Beauty and The Beast, orchestrated for real life humane registers and pasts/lifestyles/moral values of stupendous differences. The most valuable aspect of this narrative choice is Nikolai's evident capability to act and feel compassionately, regardless of the status he fills in as The Driver for a Russian Mafia cell notorious and feared of exhibiting ruthless aggressivity if fruity as far as practical considerations.

Of all the decent characters and their corresponding performances Eastern Promises deliver, Viggo Mortensen's role poses primal significance in the narrative buildup. This is the story of, and the movie about Nikolai, a person forged by forces we are not likely to form the quite proper ideas of, a man without further tears to shed remaining in him, yet also a man who "failed to collapse" under the past he was living through. Couldn't help but come out as a man you are not likely to surprise easily, though he possesses a very firm inner value system as well, a system which existence he is absolutely sure of, and made a temporal (?) peace of not having channels to vibrate it through at the moment.



These are the focal elements to keep this film in a constant, convincing flow, as events and characters all deliver relevant interest and opposing agendas to tell this story without any moment of narrative hollowness present. Even Cronenberg's inner vision seems to reveal for offering quite intent of a glimpse of itself through the focal character developed by Steven Knight, as Nikolai clearly is a figure to possess an improbable emotional structure of inner humane buildup. He has no ties, no memories he would regard as important - he has nothing
but the droid-dog-loyalty he is ready to render as a massively stable guarantee of flawless service delivered for a criminal syndication.

The fact that Russian prisoners have their stories and deeds tattooed on their bodies gains an immense, symbolic significance factor in this here Cronenberg movie. Nikolai's body is a silent testament of who he really is, though all he ever was means little more to him than keeping a diary he couldn't get rid of even if he wanted to, as one who was a Russian prisoner and had no tattoos: did not, and therefore does not even exist. A very nice metaphor then quickly unravels here, pointing at the notion how the horrid events that made Nikolai who he is ended up as factual history on his body, while the person who lived through and emerged from the Russian prison hell gained blatant degree of emotional toughness, failing to show interest anymore towards the traumas he was subjected to. Nevertheless, he does keep written history of all this, as traditions and Prison Law - nice noise there, sorry 'bout that - does recognize, and bizarrely: respects its sufferers by giving them the ornamental records of what they could endure and overcome. A thorough glimpse unto this fascinating, hidden underculture is subtly offered in this installment, utilized also to make a very interesting character out of the focal figure of Nikolai.

Eastern Promises utilizes solid, extremely coherent setups and environments Cronenberg seems fond relying on these days, filling the tender, usually modest images he uses with the actual conflicts forming between the characters. This coherence and the evident uninterest of surprising us with everyday action-attractions even makes place for a quite memorable fight scene unfolding in a VIP bathroom. This is the first occasion you see Cronenberg directing such a sequence, and let me tell you something: both him and his actors perform masterfully in that bathroom.

Following the 2005, stable effort of History of Violence, director David Cronenberg delivers yet another solid work based on other sources than his own, a highly defendable, mature installment to enrich directions beside his technocratic bodyhorror language.



- OK. Could you do -hmm- Bohemian Rhapsody??
- HELL, yeah!

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