Our 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.
What it won
Oscars
1 nom
Berlin
1 nom
Golden Globes
3 noms
BAFTA
2 noms
César Awards
1 nom
The story
A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.
Elsewhere
"Eastern Promises is shockingly gorgeous, for all the ugliness it portrays."
— Jim Emerson
The details
Streaming arrival
Man this movie is so hardcore. It’s so gangster. It’s amazing.
This is one worth watching! Heartbreaking and well acted.
A gangster movie. Under developed characters in an mediocre plot with very average, actually unsatisfying cinematography.