Eastern
Promises: Life, Death, and the Russian Mafia
Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen
By
Breanne Boland October 4, 2007 Issue
Eastern
Promises works deep in the grey morality and uncertain motivations
that make for great, tense drama.
Naomi Watts
plays a midwife drawn into the underground of the Russian mafia
when she attends to the death of a pregnant, teenaged immigrant.
As she tends the orphaned baby, she decides to seek out the dead
girl’s family so that the child won’t be lost in the
seas of the British foster system.
However, a
well-meaning investigation throws her into something she could
never have expected. The dead girl’s diary is full of stories
of sexual slavery, forced drugs, and the ill deeds of some of
the most dangerous people in London. Unfortunately, Watts’s
midwife falls squarely into their midst as she inadvertently asks
the wrong person for help with translating the diary.
Viggo Mortensen
plays Nikolai, a taciturn new arrival in London’s Russian
mafia. Initially, he seems predatory, the least predictable and
most dangerous member of the family. His numerous gang tattoos,
based on real-life Russian prison markings, tell a dark biography,
giving a very specific set of warnings to anyone who knows their
etymology.
Watts’s
character is warned repeatedly about pursuing the matter, to the
point of intimated threats, but she can’t help trying to
find justice for the dead girl and her child. Meanwhile, Mortensen’s
character moves from being a mere driver to being a perpetrator
of darker acts, with still more secrets hidden behind his casual
faÁade. He helps Watts, but he keeps his endgame to himself.
Mortensen
is a polyglot already, and he immersed himself in Russia in order
to learn the language and acquire the proper accent. Still, the
already infamous naked bathhouse fight scene will inevitably overshadow
even this feat. It has gained fame because it may be the longest
male nude scene in conventional cinema. It should be well known
because it is brutal, tense, and meticulously filmed, most impressive
considering how chaotic the scene is.
A lot of movies
would be overshadowed by something like this, or by its star’s
outsized efforts to get into character. However, Eastern Promises
is solid and well written enough that it provides an adequate
frame for these two accomplishments. It works in ambiguity in
the best way, offering a tangible sense of fear without demonizing
its darker characters or canonizing those who stand on the outside
with us, looking in.
Bottom line:
skillfully morally complex
Across
the Universe
Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood
Across the
Universe is another entry in the meta-musical genre — the
cinematic offshoot of sampling in music. Using the songs of the
Beatles, the film explores the ups and downs of 1960s America,
looking at the country as it lost its feigned innocence and descended
into war, internal conflict, and the shedding of tight 1950s morality.
Does it sound
heavy-handed? It is. Each character, boasting names like Jo-Jo,
Jude, Lucy, and Sadie, has a lot to represent, to the point that
every person is a token representative of whatever their ethnic
or social background, rather than being a living, breathing human.
However, the
musical genre isn’t known for its character studies, and
the songs and the beautiful cinematography spare it from the depths
of cheesiness. The film plucks songs from the many eras of the
Beatles, often using lyrics instead of dialogue. It’s not
a film for everyone, but if you can be content to sit back and
let the beauty of the images and music flow over you, the film’s
shortcomings hardly matter. (One suspects that drugs might also
be helpful.)
Coming Attractions
Oct. 5
The Heartbreak Kid - The Farrelly brothers, best known for There’s
Something About Mary, reunite with Ben Stiller in this remake.
Stiller’s character gets married and meets his dream girl
on his honeymoon, in the face of rising doubts about his new wife.
The Seeker:
The Dark is Rising - A young boy discovers he has magical powers
and is part of a group of immortal warriors. He finds himself
thrust into their ranks, traveling through time to try to defeat
the forces of darkness.
Oct. 12
Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Cate Blanchett reprises the role that
made her famous as Britain’s Virgin Queen. Naturally, the
death threats and would-be assassins are still present, and now
she must deal with the growing threat of Spain.
We Own the
Night - Joaquin Phoenix plays a nightclub owner who finds himself
unwillingly allied with his policeman brother to fight the Russian
mafia (my, they’re busy!) who have a heavy hand in running
the club.
Michael Clayton
- George Clooney and Tilda Swinton are New York lawyers who become
entangled in a class action lawsuit. Clooney’s eponymous
character becomes progressively disenchanted with the dirty work
his law firm compels him to do.
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