David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises [Updated]

I've been a David Cronenberg fan since his early horror-schlock days. The thing is, more than any other director I can think of, he has continued to evolve and broaden his palette with new movie.

So I am excited to see his newest film, Eastern Promises.



Here is a little of what Roger Ebert had to say about the film:

Cronenberg has said he's not interested in crime stories as themselves. "I was watching 'Miami Vice' the other night," he told Adam Nayman of Toronto's Eye Weekly, "and I realized I'm not interested in the mechanics of the mob, but criminality and people who live in a state of perpetual transgression -- that is interesting to me."

And to me as well. What the director and writer do here is not unfold a plot, but flay the skin from a hidden world. Their story puts their characters to a test: They can be true to their job descriptions within a hermetically sealed world where everyone shares the same values and expectations, and where outsiders are by definition the prey. But what happens when their cocoon is broached? Do they still possess fugitive feelings instilled by a long-forgotten babushka? And what if they do?

Other reviews include the Boston Globe and Washington Post.

UPDATE: Eastern Promises won the Toronto International Film Festival's top prize on Saturday.

Tags: David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises, film, reviews, Roger Ebert, trailer