Every once in a while you see a movie, read a book, or hear something on the radio and it reminds you that the world isn’t just Disneyland and ice cream sandwiches (which, by the way, I often think it is). A piece of work that makes you look at all the people you interact with on a daily basis in a much different way than you had the day before.
No, I’m not talking about Meet the Spartans (although, there’s probably an argument for looking at people funny after seeing that, which I haven’t, and probably won’t). I’m referring to Eastern Promises.
Is the Cold War Over?
Eastern Promises is one of those movies that you finish watching and go, “Wow, this is true.” And the realization of that fact suddenly makes you look around and say a little prayer of thanks. I won’t give away too much of the movie, but let me say that it’s set in modern day Britain and deals with the Russian mob. More specifically, it involves the Russian mob and the seedy underworld of the sex trade.
What does the movie do well? It gives us a glimpse of a world most of us will never see (the fortunate ones). Culture, heritage, desperation, and despair wrap themselves around a small group of people divided by right and wrong.
This movie does one thing extremely well, it shows us its characters and it engages us in their lives. The characters in Eastern Promises are memorable. They’re interesting. Most importantly…they change, and they grow. It’s expertly done, and it’s fun to watch. As each character’s multifaceted sides come forth we begin to see the bigger picture, and it’s not a Kodak moment.
The Conclusion
Pros:
- Characters.
- Plot and pacing.
- Performances (the actors do an amazing job here).
- Nothing gets in the way of the two things listed above…well, almost nothing…
- There’s a nude fight scene starring Viggo Mortensen (the lead actor). But why? What’s the point? Sure, they want to show off his…tattoos. But, they could have done that without showing off…(insert hilarious joke). Personally, I think it was to draw attention to the movie, and I think that’s pretty lame. It gets in the way of the storytelling rather than adding to it (at least it doesn't make you laugh like Beowulf did).
- The movie is about the horrors of the Russian sex trade, and we get that, but I think some of that focus is lost as the movie focuses more onto Viggo’s character and his development. It’s not bad, but it does distract from the message just a little bit.
I highly recommend Eastern Promises. It’s always refreshing when a writer can view another writer’s work and appreciate it. Most of the time, we’re left going, “Ah, see, I would have done it way differently.” I didn’t feel that way about this movie.
Have you seen it? Any additional thoughts? Does Viggo deserve an Oscar nod, or just a loincloth?
1 comment:
I'd definitely vote for a loincloth personally. I think it's unfortunately far too common for Hollywood to add "shock value" to a scene that could do really well on its own without it--perhaps even better.
But I agree that Mortensen's performance was otherwise very good. After watching the "Making of" bonus feature, I was really impressed with how much both he and the director researched the topic and found ways to authenticate the characters and story.
That's what a lot of writing seems to lack at times--good research. I think an otherwise pretty decent story can be vastly improved with some key details based on solid information. It lends credibility to even the most outlandish plot lines. In fact, don't even think about writing an airplane story or a medical drama without researching it first. Otherwise you will alienate all those in your audience who are pilots (e.g., my dad) and physicians. If you are going to write a beauty pageant story, though, you can get away with just about anything. ;-)
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