EASTERN PROMISES

Directed by: David Cronenberg Written by: Steve Knight Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassell, Armin Mueller-Stahl Music by: Howard Shore Cinematography by: Peter Suschitzky Distributed by: Focus Features 'Long live the new flesh!€™ Many would assume that after a couple of moderately conventional psychological thrillers, director David Cronenberg's filmic fetish no longer streams from bodily disgust. Probe a little deeper though and the trademark preoccupations with body horror become ever more apparent, albeit embedded a little deeper into the psychological context. Following on from the critical and commercial success of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE- a quietly brooding suspenseful splice of emotional human predicament powered with a thriller instinct - Cronenberg has emerged with yet another stylish crime thriller concerning the plight of the past upon the present. From the pen of DIRTY PRETTY THINGS scribe Steven Knight, EASTERN PROMISES tells the story of how homely British midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) crosses into a nightmarish underworld of murder and deceit after she stumbles upon the journal of a dying teenager, which could potentially unearth some haunting truths for a Russian family. The diary leads her to the Trans-Siberian restaurant which is run by elderly patriarch Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Anna quickly comes to realise that the family are part of a criminal network and that she may be holding discriminating evidence that could be used against them. The Vory Z Zakone are a breed of Russian gangsters, a brotherhood characterised by the inscription of tattoos on their bodies that outline their life story. A concealed past posing potentially terrifying repercussions is a theme Cronenberg has been toying with lately, stemming from both his enigmatic period dramaSPIDERand more recently A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. But, what on paper might have looked like promising material for an invigorating gangster thriller proves a harder nut to crack on screen. It€™s difficult to pinpoint the exact reason why EASTERN PROMISES doesn't quite live up to Cronenberg's previous probing endeavors into human predicament - this is after all the same mastermind behind such psychologically traumatic tests of endurance as THE FLY and DEAD RINGERS. Perhaps one aspect is the film's considerably lack of cinematic urgency. While scenes are directed with Cronenberg€™s usual dedication to atmospheric intensity and they remain beautifully lensed by regular collaborator Peter Suschitzky - a cinematographer who has brought a distinctive distilled chillness to all of Cronenberg€™s films from DEAD RINGERS onwards €“ there is a noticeable sluggishness to proceedings that threatens to grind the unfolding drama to a sudden halt. This is a real shame as the scenes centered around the Russian family are extraordinarily engrossing and well supported by an exceptional cast. Viggo Mortensen impressively masters the tricky Russian dialect in the role of the family's faithful but ominous henchmen-cum-himan Nikolai. He takes orders from Semyon's wayward closet homosexual son Kirill (played by LA HAINE'S Vincent Cassel) who appears to hide an unhealthy fascination with Nikolai, at one point even demanding that the man make love to a prostitute in front of him to prove his manhood. Then theres Armin Mueller-Stahl as the elderly but mindful Semyon, who enriches the patriarchal Russian with such graceful mild-mannered authority that scenes noticeably lose a degree of edginess when he's no longer dominating the frame. Unfortunately Naomi Watts struggles under the weight of such an male-orientated environment. This is a bitter disappointment as her character's notable Russian ancestry and developing relationship with Nikolai is supposed to generate an interesting but problematic bridge between the two adverse worlds. A double morality play which tests the strength of Nikolai's alliance to the brotherhood and Anna's stubborn mission to find the parents of the dead Russian girl. Despite these quims theres plenty of psychologically expressive locales and aesthetic detail to keep the viewer appropriately immersed in the unfolding drama. Following SPIDER this is Cronenberg's second London based outing and like the former the psychological is inscribed on the geographical location. As portrayed here the capital is a strangely dormant alien city that bears no distinctive landmarks and appears seeped in grimy aged bricks and cobblestones, a stark contrast to the popular multi-cultural city we are so used to seeing depicted on screen. We also gain great insight into the Russian mob's kitschy flamboyance at family parties, though at the expense of momentarily losing the thread of the narrative, which becomes rather superficial next to the glamorous interior textures of the family environment. This certainly goes some way to undermine the stern machoism that modern gangster films like GOODFELLAS and THE GODFATHER series have fought to establish. Theres even a hint of homoerotic energy that appears to charge a violent conflict in a Turkish bathhouse that involves Nikolai and contains enough naked flesh and graphic brutality to be labeled characteristically Cronenbergian. But with all the prestige that went with the film being chosen as the opening screening to this year's Thames BFI London Film Festival I expected a little more from EASTERN PROMISES. Especially from a director who has created some of the most imaginative films in contemporary cinema. It€™s been almost a decade since we experienced a true archetypal Cronenberg film: which for me was the highly body conscious sci-fi thriller EXISTENZ. I wonder if Cronenberg will ever return to his now repressed body horror roots. While I respect his judgmental endeavors into the mainstream (and look forward to what will surely be an innovative adaptation of Christopher Hampton's THE TALKING CURE), I still behold a somewhat morbid urge to experience a little more organic mutation from the definitive king of venereal horror.

rating: 3