Eastern Promises (2007)
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Storyline
Taglines:
| 1: Every sin leaves a mark. |
Plot Summary:
If it weren’t for the brilliant job done by Mortensen as a ruthless Russian mobster and by Naomi Watts as a concerned midwife, Eastern Promises could be considered a real step down from A History of Violence. However, Mortensen and Watts lift Eastern Promises up and it’s because of their performances this movie works reasonably well as a character-driven drama, rather than a straight-up thriller.
The Story
A young woman wanders into a drug store seeking help. Before the pharmacist can ask what she needs, blood flows down her legs. It’s obvious she’s in distress and about to give birth. Rushed to the hospital where a midwife named Anna (Naomi Watts) is on duty, the pregnant woman delivers and then dies before regaining consciousness.
Anna discovers a diary written in Russian on the dead woman’s body and takes it home for her uncle to translate. She wants to know where to reach the baby’s family and believes the diary offers the only glimmer of hope at connecting the newborn with her blood relatives. When her uncle declines, viewing the diary as an item stolen from the dead, Anna finds a business card inside the book and sets out to find anyone at that establishment who might know the young woman’s family.
Her desire to see the child united with her own kin sends Anna down a dangerous path. Somehow the deceased is tied to a powerful family of Russian mobsters and by digging into the woman’s past, Anna finds herself caught up in the sleazy – and deadly – London underground.
The Cast
Viggo Mortensen stars as driver/bodyguard Nikolai Luzhin, a cold, calculating figure hungry to advance upward in the Russian mob. Mortensen’s tailored appearance perfectly matches the crisp, unruffled manner in which he goes about dispatching his duties – duties that include the removal of a frozen corpse’s teeth and fingertips. Mortensen plays Nikolai so tightly controlled that the tiniest change in his tone of voice conveys more than a lot of actors are able to do using every tool at their disposal. Snapping off crisp dialogue with a Russian accent, Mortensen is truly mesmerizing.
Playing Kirill, Nikolai’s unstable boss, is a scenery-chewing Vincent Cassel. Kirill’s a drunkard with a huge inferiority complex and the overwhelming need to please his father, Semyon (the terrific Armin Mueller-Stahl), the Tony Soprano of the London-based Russian mob. Kirill’s a crazy man who forces Nikolai to have sex with one of their captive prostitutes to prove his manhood, although it’s obvious Kirill would rather have his male subordinate to himself. Cassel plays Kirill as a spoiled psychotic child, confused over his identity and unable to connect with his powerful father. It’s an over-the-top performance, but Cassel gets away with it because it works perfectly opposite Mortensen’s quietness.
Naomi Watts is also at the top of her game as a single woman whose motherly instinct propels her into dicey situations. The scenes involving Watts and Mortensen are truly dynamic. If Cronenberg hooks up with Mortensen for a third film, he should strongly consider asking Watts back for another go-round opposite Mortensen.
The Bottom Line
A lot has been made of the steamy bathhouse scene in which Viggo Mortensen is totally naked while fighting with two Russian mobsters. Is the scene with Mortensen in all his naked glory absolutely necessary? Yes. It fits perfectly into the story, is in no way sexual, and is quite possibly one of the most unbelievably interesting hand-to-hand fight scenes on film. Without giving away any spoilers, suffice it to say the nudity not only fits in the context of the scene but also serves to kick the tension and immediacy of the fight to a much higher level. And Cronenberg does not cheat the audience by blocking the shots in such a way as to conceal Mortensen’s body. Instead, he allows the audience to get caught up in the violence of the moment because of the honest way he’s staged the brutal sequence.
There’s a lot to enjoy about Eastern Promises. It’s provocative, disarmingly violent, and the acting’s first-rate. Yet it’s also disappointing in that not much is left to the imagination. If you don’t see the twists coming a mile away, you’re not paying attention. Moves are telegraphed too far in advance for this to be the thriller it proposes to be. Still, Mortensen and Watts shine and their terrific performances elevate Eastern Promises into a compelling drama worth checking out.
Rebecca Murray
Hollywood Movies Guide
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