David Cronenberg - Eastern Promises

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Eastern Promises looks pretty interesting, loved A History of Violence, which also starred Vigo, apparently he likes to fight nude. :eek:


Trailer - SD and HD


here is a review from Fabfunk, - skip any minor plot para if you wish;

Fabfunk here...

So last night, I’m pretty sure I was a part of a very special audience, the first ever to see “Eastern Promises”. It’s the latest from David Cronenberg, and I hope I wasn’t biased enough about the film being that Cronenberg might be my favorite director, but he’s been on fire for a couple of decades now- why isn’t he your fave too?

Anyway, it was clear that his decision making would take a more commercial tone after “A History Of Violence” mixed arthouse ponderance and DTV action while dialing down the body horror and elaborating on Cronenberg’s still-evolving visual sense, and “Eastern Promises” is a very handsome, expensive-looking picture. Needless to say, he moves even farther away from the body horror stuff to craft what is a pretty immersive, low key story that will probably be ill-received by critics expecting an Auteur’s Spectacular. I would say it’s one of his weaker films, but even his least charitable critics have to admit that this one has a strong hold.


PLOT;

I’m not sure how much it will evolve after this screening, but the film seems to tell dual stories. One tale involves Naomi Watts as a young nurse who ends up caring for the baby of as fourteen year old after the mother dies during birth. Finding the dead woman’s journal prompts her to try to retrace the dead girl’s steps, which lead her to the doorstep of a shady restaurant managed by Armin Mueller-Stahl from “Shine”. He’s a kindly old man who seems to operate a friendly business, but why is he dead-set on personally translating the journal himself? And who are the two hoods constantly walking in and out of his restaurant?

Silly, those two men are internationally famous Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel. Cassel is the right hand man of what seems to be a sinister Russian mafia organization headed up in London (the film’s location), a loose cannon with no scruples about getting wasted or doing some wasting of his own in the middle of the street. Mortensen is more tightly wound, and as such is the main character of this divergent storyline, where he is an outsider, the “driver” looking to enter what appears to be a sinister criminal family of Russian criminals. He learns of the missing girl and soon realizes he may be in way more than he bargained for. These two storylines weave into each other in pretty complex, unpredictable ways, and what’s most interesting is that the story doesn’t hew to any conventions, particularly not that of past Cronenberg films. One of the questions on the post-questionnaire was whether it reminded me of other films, and I could not think of a single one.


Like “A History Of Violence”, Cronenberg is exploring genre tropes and ideas that have long become clichéd. He digests the concept of near-incestual surrogate familial relationships between criminals, as he penetrates the criminal world through Mortensen’s tired eyes. Mortensen is scary intense in this, and while the film begins with Watts’ character, it ends with him as the primary protagonist, as he completes a fairly surprising journey. It’s disappointing that Watts’ story seems to be on the back-burner, as it’s never as interesting and it involves her being inquisitive but passive, but maybe there’s another cut somewhere that elaborates on her role.

I don’t want to spoil any more than I have (there are several twists, but it’s fun to just watch the plot evolve) but I have to say, the movie’s got the scene of the year. This will be a quasi-Spoiler- Viggo is in a bathhouse when two thugs come after him, and suddenly this barely R-rated movie becomes something that will make the MPAA sweat. Not only is it a totally brutal one-on-one fight with Viggo’s fists versus two guys with knives, but ol’ Viggo takes them down through about five to ten minutes of bare-knuckled brawling while COMPLETELY NUDE. And there’s no dodgy photography or editing in this- Viggo’s balls are flying ALL over the place. There’s one moment where he lifts his leg to deliver a roundhouse kick, and I could swear Aragorn’s scrote smacked me in the face about six times. If anybody remembers that totally rough naked shower fight in “Get Rich Or Die Trying”, this one is about twelve times more brutal. Van Damme would never agree to that sort of ball exposure, and he’d never deliver the kind of ass-kicking that results from it.

Anyway, those who are expecting THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME from Cronenberg will have to settle for what amounts to an interesting experiment of sorts, and a further evolution of his shooting and editing style. There are several crane shots here, and he retains the same interest in the cold, exterior surfaces of personality-less cities, in addition to an engrossing, unusual story. Also, Viggo’s massive, hairy balls.

If you use this, I am Fabfunk.






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I saw this movie myself earlier today, I was excited to see it after enjoying "a history of violence" loads plus having a soft spot for Cronenberg earlier work like "Scanners".

I can't really add any more to the plot summary by Fabfunk as it is much better than I can manage and is very accurate. Just to mention the setting of the film though, it is in London and while I have a fairly good handle on the city, the film is so magnificently shot you see London landmarks but somehow it never feels like the London that you know, its like the story of the underworld has been transferred to the tone and picture of the movie, a very impressive feat IMO.

I really enjoyed the movie, it seems like it may be kind of slow and plodding but it isn't at all, its fast moving and taught at 1hr 40mins so you never feel like any of the scenes are unjustifiably included in the movie. The violence is, well, violent! It follows the same kind of formula as History of Violence in its grittyness [sic?] and complete lack of sentimentality, its very raw, very real and is much more shocking than any gore porn effort from Eli Roth and associated bad directors of bad movies.

The best part of the movie was Viggo Mortensen, who knew he was such a good actor but since his LOTR exploits he has become possibly one of Hollyweirds finest, his accent is flawless (as are the rest of the casts including Naomi Watts British accent) and you really believe to look at him that he is dangerous in the way he stands and walks, you get the impression that every step he takes has not been choreographed but instead that he is so knowledgeable about his character he is really living this guys life and it just so happens that Cronenberg was around with a camera to film it. He is that good and if he doesn't get some acknowledgement from BAFTA or the academy then they will be totally devalued as institutions. Any bad points? well, apart from the complete arse sat behind me in the cinema who spent the entire film talking loudly to the woman he was with about how much he was enjoying the movie there aint really much I can say against it except for the crappy imitation football shirts that were worn in a crowd scene near Stamford Bridge.

I highly recommend that anyone fancying watching a serious movie in the next few weeks sees this, its amazing and is one of the best movies I have seen this year, I have a feeling anyone else who sees it will be saying the same.

Anyone else see this flick yet?
 
Saw this one last night & I enjoyed it. Definitely a low key kind of flick, and there were some flashes of classic Cronenberg, not least in the way certain throats are slit...no cgi here, just glorious "proper" effects. I thought the main central fight scene was superbly done, with no accompanying music, just raw, desperate fighting to the death. The acting was excellent (particularly Viggo) and the story was generally engaging & believable, and the ending...well, let's just say there could be more story to be told. Oh, and I can hardly remember the last time I saw a 1.85:1 new release at the cinema! Anyway, a solid 7/10 from me.
 
Watch this last night and enjoyed it. I don't want to sound sexist, but I don't think this is a type of film that the gf/mrs would appreciate (even if they drool over Viggo).

The girl behind me kept squealing and complaining to her BF that he did not tell her that the film was going to be like this. He replied, 'It is an 18 after all'.

I agree that Cronenberg shocks me more than Roth. I found in a one scene in 'A History of Violence' when Viggo smashed a coffee jug into the face of a villian really rough/cool.

I hope Cronenberg carries on with his recent foray into the violent crime genre.
 
saw this last night, absolute class!

but... the ending was dissapointing for me, dont wanna spoil for anyone :rolleyes:

other than that, very very good, second best film ive seen at cinema this year (first ones letters from iwo jima).

get the chance go see it.
 
saw this last night, absolute class!

but... the ending was dissapointing for me, dont wanna spoil for anyone :rolleyes:

other than that, very very good, second best film ive seen at cinema this year (first ones letters from iwo jima).

get the chance go see it.

i havent seen it, but was the all balls bared fight cringing :D


.
 
nice to see he's only normal though!

erm... i dont mean nice to actually see it :rolleyes:
 
nice to see he's only normal though!

erm... i dont mean nice to actually see it :rolleyes:

:eek: :D

Good to see that people have enjoyed this film. I will deffo get this film on HD-DVD / Blu Ray...and before anyone says it...it is not for THAT scene.
 
I'll be giving this one a miss if it is anywhere close to being as crap and childish as A HistoryOf Violence...
 
I'll be giving this one a miss if it is anywhere close to being as crap and childish as A HistoryOf Violence...

after the 'hype' that surrounded history i was dissapointed, but eastern promise is great, in a truly understaded way, i watched it with no preconceptions, and it didnt dissapoint, the only sore point wa the ending but i can kinda forgive it for that, and viggo was/is exceptional in it...

its nowhere near history of violence, role wise, perhaps the lead characters are, but plot and story, no... this is leagues above
 
I saw this film last night and it was obvious it had been butchered in the editing room. There were scenes missing all over the place. The ending was just odd. Did anyone notice there were scenes in the trailers that weren't in the film?

I predict there will be a full extended version of the film with all scenes included when the dvd comes out.

An amazing film, brilliant acting. It just needs the other half putting back in.
 
I saw this film last night and it was obvious it had been butchered in the editing room. There were scenes missing all over the place. The ending was just odd. Did anyone notice there were scenes in the trailers that weren't in the film?

I predict there will be a full extended version of the film with all scenes included when the dvd comes out.

An amazing film, brilliant acting. It just needs the other half putting back in.

As most trailers are done early whilst the full movie is still being edited, some scenes may be removed.
 
Vincent Cassell has been slated in the press for his performance. I thought he did well.

Viggo is class. Hope he continues to get good roles!
 

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