Eastern Promises

Acclaimed director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen, who previously teamed up for A History of Violence, join forces again for Eastern Promises, featuring Mortensen as the sinister, enigmatic Nikolai Luzhin, a driver for the London-based branch of a notorious criminal brotherhood known as “Vory V Zakone.” Headed by charming restaurateur Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), this Eastern European mob family specializes in human trafficking, with Semyon's mercurial son Kirill (Vincent Cassel) acting as brutal enforcer. When one of the family's sex slaves escapes but dies after giving birth in a city hospital, British midwife Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts) tries to trace the child's lineage—a process that brings her to Semyon's doorstep and puts both Anna and her Russian-born relatives in jeopardy. Although the story is full of secrets and ambiguities, Cronenberg tells it with admirable straightforwardness, eschewing fancy camera angles and narrative trickery, while also eliciting top-notch performances from the entire cast, with Mueller-Stahl contributing a particularly blood-chilling turn as the soft-spoken, courtly mobster who just might be the most brutal man in the entire clan. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include the 11-minute behind-the-scenes featurette “Secrets and Stores,” a “Marked for Life” featurette on the history of the tattoos in the film (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a powerful film.] (E. Hulse)[Blu-ray Review—Oct. 14, 2008—Universal, 101 min., R, $29.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2007's Eastern Promises sports a great transfer and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are almost identical to the previous DVD release, including the 11-minute behind-the-scenes featurette “Secrets and Stores,” a “Marked for Life” featurette on the history of the tattoos in the film (7 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the “My Scenes” option of viewing favorite clips, a “Two Guys Walk Into a Bath House” segment on the fight scene (2 min.), and a brief “Watts on Wheels” segment on costar Naomi Watts learning to ride a motorcycle. Bottom line: a fine BD upgrade of a powerful Cronenberg film.]