Eastern Promises

Title: Eastern Promises
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassell
Year: 2007
MPAA: Rated R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity.
Date of Review: December 30, 2007

With A History of Violence in 2005, fans and critics began to wonder if David Cronenberg had begun a transition to more mainstream cinema. His signature weirdness and overtly sexual imagery seemed to be gone, and instead of his typical blend of science fiction and horror we were given a fairly straightforward story about a small town family man who may or may not be an ex-mob hitman. It was still a fantastic film and one of the best of it’s year, but it just didn’t have much of a "Cronenberg feel" to it, aside from a few brutally violent scenes - though what R-rated crime thriller doesn’t have those these days?

Now in 2007 we have Eastern Promises Cronenberg’s latest film which also happens to be a fairly basic crime thriller, and also stars Viggo Mortensen. Set in London, England, it tells the story of a young midwife named Anna (Naomi Watts) who crosses paths with the Russian mafia when she tries to have the diary of a young dead Russian girl translated. It’s a simple setup for a simple story, but unfortunately it is dragged down significantly by characters (mostly Anna) making incredibly stupid choices - choices which would even leave a child sitting there scratching their head.

It is established early on in the film that Anna is a naive young woman. Her initial action of taking the diary from the body of the dead young girl is shown with a certain amount of innocence - she did not take the diary thinking she was grave robbing (as her uncle accuses her of), but rather out of pure curiosity. However, throughout the course of the film her naivety turns to stupidity as signs are continually thrown at her that she is dealing with very dangerous people, and she continues to pursue her crusade of justice against the men who wronged this girl whom she never met. There’s a scene later in the film where Anna shows up at the doorstep of the mafia household and starts yelling and cursing and throwing accusations at them. This scene occurs long after it has been made perfectly clear to her that these are dangerous criminals, so why does she still continue to try to stir up trouble? Bravery? No, she is not brave, she is just stupid to continue her hopeless mission.

Unfortunately, Anna is not the only annoying character in the film. One of the film’s main antagonists - and the guy that you are really, really supposed to hate - is Kirill, the son of the mob boss. Played by French character actor Vincent Cassell (husband of bombshell Monica Bellucci), Kirill is like the polar opposite of our hero, Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen). He is a sadistic, psychotic, incredibly diseased individual with a venomous relationship with his father. Unfortunately, much of the menace of his character is lost due to some horrible dialogue which seems better suited for a Steven Seagal film. At one point Nikolai and Kirill are arguing about Kirill’s disrespectful nature. Nikolai says something to the effect of, "Kirill, show some respect", to which Kirill replies by pulling a wad of cash out of his jacket and saying, "respect? This is respect." There are other lines in the film similar to this that make it seem like the writer was watching too many big-muscled action movies before hunkering down to write this serious drama.

But don’t take all this negativity as a way of saying it’s a bad film - it’s very far from it. It’s simply disappointing to see from such a skilled director as Cronenberg, whose distinct style and strange, outside-the-box approach to cinema could have produced something much more cutting than what we have here. There is no doubt that Viggo Mortensen’s performance is great, and perhaps one of the best performances of the year. With a flawless accent and a conflicted attitude towards the events surrounding him, he’s convincing as a cold-hearted mob man with some moral dilemmas about his work and the people he works with. Though his job description is as a "driver", many scenes show that he’s like the mob’s "garbage boy", doing the jobs no one else wants to do. In one of the more Cronenberg-like scenes, Nikolai is given the task of cutting off the fingertips of a dead man so as to make it harder to identify his body. Of course Nikolai has to act cold and heartless around his friends and allies, but in quieter scenes - such as those where Nikolai is simply driving someone home - Mortensen shows a strong ability to convey emotion through subtle facial expressions, and this is much of what makes Eastern Promises succeed in the end.

So, while slightly disappointing to a Cronenberg enthusiast, his latest effort is still an interesting look at the Russian mafia - an organized crime sect which seems oddly absent from mainstream cinema, which usually focuses on the more stereotypical Italian mafia. Despite some moments that could be described best as "D’uh! moments" with Anna, and some annoying dialogue, Eastern Promises is worth seeing, even if just for Viggo Mortensen’s great portrayal of Nikolai.

7 / 10

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman
Year: 2007
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.
Date of Review: December 26, 2007

There was a span of about two or three years during my life as a teenager where I felt increasingly conflicted about the person I am, and whether I really liked me. I would look at myself and wonder whether or not I would want to be friends with me, had I been someone else. Of course, my parents’ great wisdom - which I refused to accept at the time - turned out to be right. Everyone feels this way at some point in their life. It’s just part of being human, and of growing up. In fact, there are probably greater problems if one doesn’t ever questions their actions or their development as a person. Angst is one of those strange things where you can do all you want to try and help a teenager to see their lives more clearly, but in the end it is only they who can really understand their own inner workings.

It’s good that the Harry Potter films have been able to incorporate these feelings of disillusionment with ourselves and the world around us. Without this, they wouldn’t feel nearly as authentic as they do and, as a result, they surely wouldn’t be as popular as they are. After all what is a story if it doesn’t have some sort of personal connection to you? I’m all for rowdy, soulless entertainment - but for that, there is a time and a place. For a story in any medium to be truly great it has to grab you and touch your heart, making you feel like this story - however fantastic - is real. Peter Jackson did this wonderfully in the Lord of the Rings films, which feel so authentic at times that it seems perhaps these events really did happen sometime hundreds or thousands of years ago.

The Order of the Phoenix works best as a continuation of the events of The Prisoner of Azkaban - the third film in the series, and also quite arguably the best. Voldemort’s back and his army is growing stronger by the minute, dividing loyalties in the world of witches and wizards. Harry Potter is beginning to see elements of darkness creep into his life and his own personality - manifested physically in the form of hallucinations of Voldemort appearing randomly before his eyes. Knowing that Voldemort is gaining power, Potter is unsure of whether these visions are the Dark Lord’s doing, or simply Potter’s own personal demons slowly taking him over.

Throughout the course of the story we see the as so far hidden back-stories of many of the characters, revealing much about their nature and why they have such prominent characteristics. The most interesting thing about these revelations is that each one reveals something about them that seems totally unlike their character, yet simultaneously explains so much about why they are the way they are. In the end it’s all a rather unsubtle sort of "yin yan" message - good cannot exist without evil and vice versa. All good people have some evil in them as well, and the evil ones also have an inherent goodness.

But what the film lacks in subtlety of message it more than makes up for in poignancy. Like Prisoner of Azkaban, it has many scenes which are genuinely affecting - something which seems to be lacking in the recent boom of child-oriented fantasy adventure films. Scenes where Harry questions his actions and his own nature feel like a much more effective version of Anakin Skywalker’s descent into evil in the Star Wars prequels. And that’s not where the parallels between these two series’ end. It seems J. K. Rowling has based many of the story arcs and character types off of those found in Star Wars, with Harry Potter being sort of a mixture of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. This has been subtly acknowledged in the final conflicts of the last two films, which both feature duels where the wizards’ powers manifest themselves in coloured light beams. In The Goblet of Fire, Voldemort’s beam was green and Harry’s red, then in the final showdown of this latest installment, the beams are red and blue. We all remember that the red lightsaber was the signature of Darth Vader - previously Anakin Skywalker - so this is a nice little visual nod to those geeks among us who would see this as yet another symbol of Harry’s darkness within.

It’s great that the Harry Potter films continue to have something to offer beyond their special effects and imaginative "wizard technology" - which is admittedly cool, but not enough to carry a whole film. Daniel Radcliffe has been perfect in embodying both the heroic and venomous traits of Harry Potter, and the supporting characters remain rich and their ever-evolving back-stories are always adding a little more without feeling tacked-on. Since most films geared towards teenagers these days are mindless action romps or torturous gore-fests filled with "pretty people" getting naked at every chance they get, it’s good to know that someone can still make a film which fulfills one’s need for spectacle while also giving kids someone to relate to and grow up with.

8 / 10