Like Chan-Wook Park, David Cronenberg is another filmmaker that often uses violence in his films as in A History of Violence (2005) and Videodrome (1983). Cronenberg does this in an attempt to understand the nature of human being's acts of violence as well as their enjoyment of it. Though Eastern Promises isn't as contemplative as something like Videodrome, it is still a far more interesting thriller than most and its production shows maturity and polish. If it was as strong as Croneberg's classics in thought it would be one hell of a thriller to best.Like I said in one of my earlier posts collecting these hundred films, Eastern Promises follows Naomi Watts as Anna, a midwife, who discovers a journal that may uncover rape and abuse perpetrated by the Russian mob when a young girl dies while giving birth. Against advice she pursues translating the journal endangering herself in the process. Nikolai, played by Viggo Mortensen, at first begins intimidating Anna, seemingly trying to deter her from stumbling upon the mob's dark secrets, though partially through the film it becomes apparent that there is more to Nikolai than originally perceived.
One of the best things about the film is the way Nikolai and his motivations are portrayed. Even when his motives become apparent we're never completely sure and Mortensen, in his second collaboration with Cronenberg, displays the mystery behind the man strikingly well. This accompanies one of my favorite aspects about David Cronenberg's films. He never seems to give the audience complete closure at the end of his pictures. There is always something left to ponder, to keep this story and the characters within open to a great number of possibilities awaiting them, and Eastern Promises is no different. I am wary of the recent news I've heard for a sequel to the film for fear of that the mystery will be destroyed. I find Cronenberg's films most interesting with their doors left open.
10 Films of 2007:
10. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
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