Eastern Promises (2007)

Eastern Promises. Film review. Sometimes, when I say a film is a great, i would go an extra mile to actually elaborate how much is it about the film that made me liked it greatly on a first place. Often too many, i would paraphrase it by saying that the film had great actors (which is relative, my good doesn't necessarily be your good), or that it had great directing or great cinematoghrapy (which is given my education background, a very vague description at best). But once in a while, i would certain that the film was great because of its one distinct quality that i felt so real that pointing it out really means that the feel of greatness of the film really does touched yours truly here. When i saw Eastern Promises yesterday, i found myself very easily said, "Whoa! Great script!" during its length and that was what the film does me great. Another entry into my best film of 2007.

In London, an unnamed woman died while giving birth. Anna Ivanova (Naomi Watts) a Russian by descendant, a Londoners by birth, was the duty nurse when she died. She found the woman's diary which was written in Russian and in order to find the woman's relative so the baby could had a better life she started to made inquiries. This brought her to a Russian mafia family. Semyon (Armin Muller-Stahl) was the father, Kirill (Vincent Cassel) was the almost good-for-nothing son, and Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) was the driver. Among others. To tell you more about it would waste mine and yours time. Because had i done so, i would merely tried to re-capture the script. And it would be a futile attempt to do so. Even though that the film was a bit dragging toward the end (this was after the "twist" was revealed), i could enjoy it much of the time. And i love the final shot so much that today i had tried my best to re-enacted the shot when i had a chance. A complete waste of effort, if you asked me.

If i could named Jeff Bridges as my favorite yet and underrated working actor today, i would named Naomi Watts as my favorite and an underrated working actress today. Both of them had their own unique charms and capabilities that found a lot love inside me. But given that they were so underrated that you're hardly saw their names on the mainstream screen, i could found an excuse be it legitimate or not that more often than not i would forget their presence entirely. Jeff Bridges' next gig would be as a villain on Iron Man film this March. Naomi Watts, as far as i know, besides Eastern Promises was was in that David Lynch's Inland Empire, and no clue whatsoever on her next project. But, i hadn't able to recall any Naomi Watts' presence in the past (21 Grams, Mulholland Dr.) that hadn't able to capture my heart. This film was another further prove of her showmanship.

As per almost every David Cronenberg's films that i've seen, Eastern Promises doesn't shy away from its Restricted rating. It doesn't tried to obscure the violence palpable in almost every Cronenberg's film right at the very first minute when a man slitted his throat by a barber's razor sharp. However, given a very good year in a film and everybody was talking about No Country for Old Men, or Juno, Eastern Promises despite its promises, never really shines beyond Cronenberg's fan-base. I'm not considered myself as a fan, having only seen Cronenberg's The Fly, and the awesome A History of Violence prior to this film. That would be an insult to a true fan of Cronenberg out there. Alas, it's not without its own merit if i said that David Cronenberg is one director working out there whose works were worthy of waiting and won't disappoint.

Viggo Mortensen was nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Actor category. A fit recognition, but as i've pointed earlier with so many spotlights in the Award and with so many great films in 2007, a dark and violent tale about Russian mafias that doesn't really shy away of showing blood and gore like this won't get much attention. And so does Viggo Mortensen who was easily paled away in comparison with other nominees in the category. But i could tell you this, Viggo Mortensen traveled to Russia and Ukraine and met actual Russian mafias, spent some time there, learning their customs, the meaning of their tattoos, their gestures, their body languages, and their languages up to a point where should you see him for the very first time in this film, you would convinced that he was somehow related to Dolph Lundgren and actually a man that was born and raised in Eastern Europe and just recently crossed the Atlantic to tried his luck in the U.S. Ow, yeah, he was THAT good. I guaranteed that you won't remembered Aragorn a bit.

If dark and violent tale-slash-drama is your cup of tea, then it would be worth your time to check out this film. And oh yeah, that infamous bath-house scene does live up to its name.