Eastern Promises

Early in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, his thrilling successor to A History of Violence, Viggo Mortensten, in a pitch-perfect Russian accent, calmly and assuredly intones to his compatriots, “I think you might want to leave the room.” For squeamish moviegoers this advice might also be apt, but for all of us who love great filmmaking, this is, simply put, one of the year’s most exciting and well-made films. A descent and guided tour into London’s Russian underworld or mafia, the Vory V Zakone, it begins with a wallop and never lets up. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) is responsible for the compelling story that Cronenberg runs with and makes his own.

On midwife Naomi Watts’s night shift in a North London hospital, a stabbed, teenage, pregnant prostitute dies, but her baby is saved. Watts’s character, Anna, finds the dead mother’s diary and a business card in it that leads her to a fancy Russian restaurant, the Trans Siberian, in hopes of having the diary translated. Here she meets Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who we find out rather quickly is the head of the Vory V Zakone and his restaurant the headquarters of same. Anna doesn’t know this yet, but she seems to sense that Semyon is not just the pleasant old man he appears to be. Enter Kirill (super-talented Vincent Cassell), the alcoholic and out-of- control son of Semyon, and Nikolai (Mortensten), identified as their chauffeur but, oh, so much more. Nikolai is both secretive and compelling, but once he crosses paths with Anna his life seems changed. Anna resolves to trace the baby’s lineage and relatives through the aforementioned diary, which, it turns out, reveals some pretty horrifying stuff about the V V Z guys. This film only gets better as it heads toward its denouement with a few really good surprises and twists along the way. And then there’s the scene everyone will be talking about that takes place in a men's bathhouse. It’s a set piece that, perhaps, defines the brilliance of Mr. Cronenberg. You have to see it to believe it.

To sum up: Cronenberg is at his best; Mortensten gives a career-defining performance; Watts, is unforgettably good; Cassell shines, as do all of the other actors. All technical components are on a par with the rest of the film’s excellence.  Clocking in at an amazingly swift 96 minutes, you will enter a world you haven’t seen before and won’t quickly forget.

                                                           Jim Baldassare