Raimi, Jackson, Cronenberg. How is it that onetime horror directors are becoming some of our best filmmakers? After driving the tongue-in-cheek "Evil Dead" series to cult acclaim, Sam Raimi's biggest shock ended up being the depth of 1998's taut fraternal crime drama
"A Simple Plan" (later, of course, he would go on to helm a franchise about a certain web-slinger). Meanwhile, Peter Jackson was making goofy, gory schlock like "Dead Alive" before taking the reigns of a little trilogy called
"Lord of the Rings". And now David Cronenberg - the onetime director of head-splatting horror classics (and not-so-classics) like "The Fly", "Videodrome" and "Scanners" follows up his meditation on brutality,
"A History of Violence", with "Eastern Promises", a deep, dark Russian-infused masterwork. Unlike 2005's "History", "Promises" doesn't aspire to be anything more than what it is. And what it is happens to be a brutal, taut thriller about the inner-workings of the Russian mafia in London.
As if to get viewers "in the mood", "Promises" opens with a vicious throat-slashing in a barber shop. This may be Mr. Cronenberg's way of saying, "No, I haven't forgotten my roots". The resulting corpse pops up for the first half of the film in different scenes as it is frozen, disposed of and recovered while we learn who this man was and why he was killed. In parallel, there is a story about a young girl who dies during childbirth. The identity of the baby's mother becomes an obsession for Anna (Naomi Watts, nicely understated), a second-generation Russian immigrant working as a midwife in a London hospital. Anna discovers the mother's diary, written completely in Russian. When her stubborn Uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) refuses to translate something "stolen from the dead", Anna goes to a local Russian restaurant and stumbles into what can only be called London's seamy underbelly.
Of course, London's underbelly is no stranger to writer Steven Knight who also penned 2002's superb illegal immigrant drama,
"Dirty Pretty Things". Mr. Knight and his director create a palpable sense of authenticity (and ethnicity) in this world. From the Russian restaurant which is the headquarters of the malevolent boss Semyon (the always-wonderful Armin Mueller-Stahl, cold as a Siberian winter) to the consistently impressive accent on Viggo Mortensen's Nikolai. As Nikolai keeps reminding people, with shades of Jason Statham's
"Transporter", he is "only a driver". But Nikolai's talents, as you might imagine, extend far beyond those of a mere chauffer. Nikolai is one of a series of Captains in the
vory v zakone, the Russian mafia. Along with Semyon's son, Kirill (Vincent Cassel, equally menacing), Nikolai acts as the strong arm of the mob.
This all may sound familiar to fans of a little film called "The Godfather". But as loyal "Sopranos" viewers (and these are usually the same people) will tell you, a well-told mob story can still astound. It is best to keep much of the plot quiet, since the thrill of "Eastern Promises" is in watching it unfold. As loyalties come and go, throats are cut (the Russians seem to prefer knives) and babies are protected, the wonder of the film is how Mr. Cronenberg deftly, subtly orchestrates it all and how brilliantly Mr. Mortensen plays the ambiguous anti-hero. There's not an over-played scene or hammered note in the film. It's just a tense, tight two hours. Yes, I'll say it. And I'm as suprised as anyone to hear it. "Eastern Promises" can stand on Top Ten Mob Movie lists alongside "Godfathers I & II", "Goodfellas" and "Donnie Brasco". That's pretty good company for a guy who used to blow up heads for a living.
