On DVD: Eastern Promises

Directed By David Cronenberg

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts

David Cronenberg is one of those lesser known directors that I have to see everything he does.  Stop with the email because I know he has a large following, myself included, but I mean lesser compared to someone like George Lucas.  Everything Cronenberg does has a level of surreal-ness that's uncommon in most modern films.  You can also count on a good bit of violence....

The Movie

Anna (Watts) is a midwife in a very stark version of London.  A young pregnant woman is brought to her hospital bleeding.  The woman dies but her baby survives.  Anna, determined to keep the newborn from being pushed into the system, digs through the dead mother's belongings searching for some clue about her family.  She does find a diary written in Russian.  Her drunken Uncle begins translating the diary but for some reason tries to delay sharing what he learns with Anna.  She finds herself in the company of Semyon, a seemingly kindly older man who agrees to translate the diary and help Anna find the baby's family.

Semyon is more than a kindly restaurant owner though, he's the leader of a family of Russian gangsters and he has his reasons for wanting to get his hands on the diary.  The film meanders between Anna's story and the story of Kolva (Mortensen) an assasin within the mob family that's starting to make his move up in the family.

The story is slowly paced but purposefully so and the two stories intersect quickly in the film but remain independent of each other until the end of the film.  The film features a lot of detail about what's required to be a part of a Russian mob family and to move up within that family but it all feels absolutely required for the film.  It never gets to documentary like or too much like a John Grisham book about submarines. 

This film features the unique Cronenberg surreal atmosphere but it never feels overpowering.  It in fact enhances the reality of the lives the people in the film live.  These are lives we could never relate to but through the film we almost understand them.  While this film isn't't action scene after action scene the ones that are here are of an extreme nature.  They don't feel gratuitous though.  They feel adequite to the kind of people in the film.  Everything just feels right with Eastern Promises.  The thriller elements are great but what makes the film stand out are the characters who are completely engrossing,  Even if you don't like mobster films I'd still say give this one a try.  It doesn't feel influenced by any of the popular mobster flicks, this is a film unto itself, like nearly all other Cronenberg films.

9/10

The Video

The anamorphic widescreen presentation features good color and a fair level of detail but it features some grain and darker scenes get real murky.  It's very watchable but not to the level the film deserves.

6.5/10

The Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is unremarkable but it does get the job done.  Dialogue, score, and sound effects are well balanced and clean but the whole affair is front loaded with only minimal immpersion through surround speakers.  The surrounds do get used, it's just not going to stand out in your DVD collection.

7/10

Packaging and Bonus Features

The single disc comes in a standard amaray case with artwork for the cover that feels very basic.  You get the title and you see images of the stars but the art just doesn't get me excited for the film.

Secrets and Stories is a brief making of featurette with interviews from the cast and crew.  It's a fairly sound bite driven featurette but still good to have on the disc.

Marked for Life is a really short featurette covering the tattoos in the film and their significance in the Russian mob.

That's it....

4/10

The most disappointing thing about this DVD is just how the studio has disrespected this phenomenal film.  This should be a 2 disc special edition with a hi def presentation of the film.  It just deserves more attention.  Eastern Promises is a great film so you should check it out even if the DVD presentation and bonus features don't live up to the actual film.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review

The Movie 9/10

The Video 6.5/10

The Audio 7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 4/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

-Stephen Lackey