Eastern Promises (2007)

Eastern Promises (2007)

A startling yet realistic gangster drama with the always amazing Viggo Mortensen

The Very Best

9.1

Movie

Canada, UK
English, Russian, Turkish
Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
2007
DAVID CRONENBERG
Aleksandar Mikic, Aleksander Mikic, Alice Henley
101 min

9.1

Theo

What it's about

A Russian teenager, living in London, dies during childbirth but leaves clues to a midwife in her journal, that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

The take

Directed by David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises is at times brutal—such is the famous Canadian director's trademark—and operates at a fever pitch of grim violence and revenge. Starring a tattooed, ruthless, and terrifying Viggo Mortensen as a very convincing Russian strong-arm gangster as well as Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, it features intense psychological drama and a gritty crime story. Midwife Anna (Watts) delivers the baby of a 14-year-old Russian prostitute, who dies while giving birth, and later learns that she was forced into prostitution by the Mafia. To keep this knowledge from seeping out, she gets entangled deeper into London's criminal underbelly, whose various factions and languages are aptly showcased by Cronenberg. Add to all this a smart script and Mortensen's daring performance and you have yourself an intense auteur thriller in signature Cronenberg style.

Comments

A gangster movie. Under developed characters in an mediocre plot with very average, actually unsatisfying cinematography.

This is one worth watching! Heartbreaking and well acted.

Man this movie is so hardcore. It’s so gangster. It’s amazing.

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