Every sin leaves a mark.
In London, the Russian pregnant teenager Tatiana arrives bleeding in a hospital, and the doctors save her baby only. The Russian descendant midwife Anna Khitrova finds Tatiana's diary written in Russian language in her belongings and decided to find her family to deliver the baby, she brings the diary home and ask her uncle Stepan to translate the document. Stepan refuses, but Anna finds a card of a restaurant owned by the Russian Semyon inside the diary and she visits the old man trying to find a lead to contact Tatiana's family. When she mentions the existence of the diary, Semyon immediately offers to translate the document. However, Stepan translates part of the diary and Anna discovers that Semyon and his sick son Kirill had raped Tatiana when she was fourteen years old and forced her to work as prostitute in a brothel of their own. Further, Semyon is the dangerous boss of the Russian mafia "Vory v Zakone", jeopardizing the safety of Anna and her family. Meanwhile, Semyon's driver Nikolai Luzhin gets close to Kirill and Semyon, climbing positions in the criminal organization, but he helps Anna, her family and the baby.
Genre(s): Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: 7.8/10 (64,311 votes)
Release Date: 8 September 2007
Country: UK, Canada, USA
Languages: English, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu
Company: Focus Features
Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity.
Director(s): David Cronenberg
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Producer(s):
Jeff Abberley - executive producer
Julia Blackman - executive producer
Stephen Garrett - executive producer
Robert Lantos - producer
Tracey Seaward - co-producer
David M. Thompson - executive producer
Paul Webster - producer
Writer(s):
Steven Knight - (screenplay) (as Steve Knight)
Cast:
Josef Altin - Ekrem
Mina E. Mina - Azim
Aleksander Mikic - Soyka
Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse - Tatiana (as Sarah Jeanne Labrosse)
Lalita Ahmed - Customer
Badi Uzzaman - Chemist
Naomi Watts - Anna
Doña Croll - Nurse (as Dona Croll)
Raza Jaffrey - Doctor Aziz
Sinéad Cusack - Helen (as Sinead Cusack)
Music: Howard Shore
Jeff Abberley - executive producer
Julia Blackman - executive producer
Stephen Garrett - executive producer
Robert Lantos - producer
Tracey Seaward - co-producer
David M. Thompson - executive producer
Paul Webster - producer
Writer(s):
Steven Knight - (screenplay) (as Steve Knight)
Cast:
Josef Altin - Ekrem
Mina E. Mina - Azim
Aleksander Mikic - Soyka
Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse - Tatiana (as Sarah Jeanne Labrosse)
Lalita Ahmed - Customer
Badi Uzzaman - Chemist
Naomi Watts - Anna
Doña Croll - Nurse (as Dona Croll)
Raza Jaffrey - Doctor Aziz
Sinéad Cusack - Helen (as Sinead Cusack)
Music: Howard Shore
Posted on: December 3, 2008
February 26th, 2009
I've enjoyed every Cronenberg film that I have ever seen and this filmis no exception. Viggo Mortenson proves himself, once again, to beamongst the finest actors in this era of film-making and surely he andCronenberg have found a creative foil in one another. Naomi Wattsoffers up a considered performance that doesn't unnecessarily slideinto pathos and Armin Mueller Stahl is very commanding in his portrayalas the tight lipped, S.O.B that is Semyon – the Russian 'Godfather'.Beautifully shot, the film holds your attention for the whole 100minutes and, if anything, it almost ends rather abruptly. I guess I waslooking for some kind of justice or resolve that wasn't there. I wonderif it was heavily edited in post production? Still, the film is verygood and continues in a similar thematic vein from the directorsprevious work, 'A History of Violence'. Cronenberg is finding hisrhythm in his role as the straight, independent mainstream cinemaauteur and is without a doubt one of the last of the classicfilm-makers.
February 28th, 2009
Director David Cronenberg usually goes overboard with his films, but inthe case of "Eastern Promises," he gets it just about right. "EasternPromises" is a film about prostitution, but it is much more than that.It takes you on a journey into the uncompromising underworld of theRussian mafia — in this case, the Vore Sikonye family. There arefascinating and disturbing sites along the way. A mobster cutting offthe fingers of a murdered mobster so that positive identification, asleast through finger prints, becomes impossible. Assassinations andattempted assassinations abound. A scene in a brothel. A prostitutewhose diary gives us an insight into the world of prostitution. On thisjourney, we (the audience) discover people who do despicable things,but somehow we come to understand them as human beings. We understandtheir uncompromising view of life and their toughness as they cope withone difficult situation after another. These are men who had it hardfrom the moment they are born and their experiences are reflected intheir ability to survive, in the cut-throat ruthlessness and seemingdisregard for human life. We also see how successfully theycompartmentalize their lives.Kirill (Vincent Cassel), for example, is abeast and a drunk who orders his subordinates to cut throats, but hecan also be very kind to children as evidenced in episodes where he iswith his family. In other words, these characters are notstraight-forward villains; they have nuances, with their lightermoments balancing their darker ones.
This is not a perfect movie. I got so involved in the story that I wasdisappointed with the end, which struck me as a simplistic cop out.After staying with these characters for so long, I wanted a conclusionthat fit with the rest of the film. I never got one. But until the last15-20 minutes, the film was awfully good. Armin Mueller Stahl gives awonderful performance as Semyon. Vincent Cassel is great as Kirill andNaomi Watts gives a capable performance as Anna. But by far the bestperformance was Viggo Mortenson's Nikolai. The secret of great actingis to convince the viewer that s/he is not seeing the actor on screen,but rather his character; and that the character is as real as you orI. Mortenson achieves that brilliantly. We forget we are seeingMortenson from "Lord of the Rings" and we assume that we are watching areal Russian mobster on screen. In my humble opinion, Viggo Mortensonis the actor to watch, because he perfectly capable of giving the kindof performance that deserves an Academy Award. It would not surprise meif one day Mortenson wins one.
March 22nd, 2009
'Eastern Promises' is very well done and highly entertainingcrime/thriller movie with focus on Russian mafia with residence inLondon. It has its flaws, its not perfect and it isn't a masterpiece,but nothing less than "MUST SEE" tagged film. Naomi Watts's, ViggoMortensen's and Vincent Cassel's performances are dead on, absolutelyflawless. I do have few complains about the story, it's seen alreadydozen times and nothing unusual going on there. Maybe David Cronenbergcould have put in spark of romance between Anna(Naomi Watts) andNikolai(Viggo Mortensen) to make this movie a bit different from othersin its genre.
I also didn't feel soundtrack in this movie, unlike some movies of thesame genre and story(e.g. Godfather), 'Eastern Promises' just doesn'thave music going in his advantage. But that's not big factor anyway inthis type of movies, i mean it can be great if there's a goodsoundtrack but if there isn't it doesn't make movie much worse. All inall this is a good mafia-drama-thriller that absolutely everyone shouldwatch.
8.5/10
April 6th, 2009
I had seen this movie in the store before but never paid too muchattention. I was bored one day and decided to rent this movie. I amglad I rented it.
A very good movie. Excellent acting by Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts andArmin Mueller-Stahl. The fight scene in the bathhouse is something Ihave never seen before. Its a very violent movie with lot of blood. Itsdefinitely on my top ten list!!
Do watch it if you get a chance.
I hear Cronenberg is planning on EP2. Can't wait to watch the secondpart.
9/10