Rent Eastern Promises (2007)
3.6 of 5 from 333 ratings
1h 36min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- After a young teenage mother dies during childbirth, midwife Anna resolves to try to trace the baby's relatives. Guided by the girl's personal diary she meets Seymon, the charming proprietor of a plush Trans-Siberian restaurant who impeccably masks his cold and brutal acts as the head of one London's most notorious Eastern European crime families. Seymon's volatile son Kirill, who is also part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood, and the family's mysterious driver, Nikolai, soon cross her path as Anna accidentally unleashes the full fury of the Vory...
- Actors:
- Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Josef Altin, Mina E. Mina, Aleksandar Mikic, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Lalita Ahmed, Badi Uzzaman, Doña Croll, Raza Jaffrey, Sinéad Cusack, Jerzy Skolimowski, Vincent Cassel, Shannon-Fleur Roux, Lillibet Langley, Mia Soteriou, Radoslaw Kaim, Donald Sumpter, Rhodri Miles
- Directors:
- David Cronenberg
- Producers:
- Robert Lantos, Paul Webster
- Voiced By:
- Tatiana Maslany
- Writers:
- Steven Knight
- Others:
- Steve Knight
- Studio:
- Pathe
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: EO, 2008, Films to Watch if You Like: Get Carter, New waves of Polish Cinema
- Countries:
- Canada
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 25/02/2008
- Run Time:
- 96 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Secrets and Stories
- Marked for Life
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Reviews (6) of Eastern Promises
Every picture tells a story. - Eastern Promises review by CP Customer
Cronenberg directs the story in a rather bleak manner and it seems rather low budget at times. Viggo Mortenson plays his role with convincing aplomb and Naomi Watts holds your attention without hogging the limelight. The bath-house scene is well acted but gruesome and predictable. Mortenson's speed of recovery in hospital belies belief and the ending hints of a sequel maybe? The extras on the dvd are worth your time.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Good story - Eastern Promises review by CP Customer
Good actors in a thriller with the surprises and twists you should expect in that genre - shot on location in London - and you do wonder if this can happen when we know about radioactive tea being served.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Brutal Gangster Film - Eastern Promises review by GI
This is the second crime film that director David Cronenberg made with Viggo Mortensen after 2005s A History of Violence. Eastern Promises is basically a gangster film, set in London and narratively focused on Russian organised crime. It's a brutal film with huge dollops of highly realistic violence one of which opens the film. It tends to give up story to try and give a generalised history of the Russian gangland customs which ultimately leaves the film coming up short although it throws in a plot twist which is weakened by a very anticlimactic ending. When a teenage girl dies in childbirth, midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) armed only with the girl's diary attempts to find her family to tell them about the baby. This leads her to a restaurant owned by the helpful Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who happens to be a ruthless Russian mobster. Anna finds her family are soon threatened but she finds an ally in the mobsters driver Nikolai (Mortensen). Mortensen gives it his all as usual and Mueller-Stahl is excellent. Watts though is sadly underused here and the support of Vincent Cassell doing his usual unhinged psycho is a waste of talent and seems very clichéd. Overall the film has some merit but it's not as interesting as the earlier Cronenberg/Mortensen collaboration.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.