David Cronenberg is on sombre and violent form in Eastern Promises, his second consecutive collaboration with Viggo Mortensen (after 2005's A History of Violence) and the first film of his penned by British screenwriter Steve Knight.
Knight's first screenplay, Dirty Pretty Things, focussed on illegal aliens in London and their involvement in the trade in body parts. Here he treads similar ground, examining the morality - or lack thereof - of the Russian mafia diaspora in the country's capital.
Naomi Watts' nurse serves as the way into the story. When a bleeding and heavily pregnant teenager dies after giving birth in her hospital, Anna (Watts) finds her diary. Being of Russian extraction herself, Anna takes an interest in the young girl's musings in an attempt to find if she has any family who can look after the child. This leads her to a traditional Russian restaurant in London and an increasingly dramatic introduction to an alien way of life.
The restaurant is run by the avuncular Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who takes Anna under his wing. Semyon's son (an exuberant Vincent Cassel) is being groomed to take over the family business, although the exact nature of said business only dawns on Anna as the film progresses.
Anna strikes up a relationship with the family's driver Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), himself attempting to climb up the family's food chain. It's Mortensen who dominates the picture delivering another impressive powerhouse of a performance, from the subtle ways in which he tries to impress his bosses to the film's violent talking point - an all-nude vicious knife fight which culminates in a bloody spectacle that is likely to leave viewers gasping for air.
Cronenberg's camera records everything with a typically impassive eye, although it's hard to know what the message of the film is meant to be. But nonetheless it is entertaining storytelling set in a murky world, and one which makes good use of London locations.
Paul Hurley
