Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises"

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Here's the trailer for David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (Focus Features, 9.14), which will apparently play at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival. The trailer tells you it's a Cronenberg fim, all right. Steely, ominous undercurrents running every which way. Focus Features is presumably screening it for long-leaders; I guess they'll get around to guys like me down the road.

Viggo Mortensen is Nikolai (i.e., "Nee-koh-lie"), a London mobster who gets into a head-turning, challenged- values situation when he crosses paths with Naomi Watts' Anna, an "innocent midwife" trying to "right a wrong", etc. The costars are Armin Muehler Stahl and Vincent Cassell (playing a frenzied psycho for the 29th time...he needs to play a concerned straight-laced dad in a family film)

A History of Violence reminded everyone that Cronenberg excels at realistic dramas about moral conflicts. Forget the spiders and the surrealism -- Cronenberg operates best in the clear light of day with ordinary but slightly twisted flesh-and- blood mortals. (Crash, one of my all-time favorite Cronies, was more or less in this vein. Ditto The Dead Zone.) It's his surrealist-fantasy stuff -- ironically the genre that put him on the map back in the '70s -- that has begun to gradually diminish in estimation.

This is not to discredit Scanners, Dead Ringers,The Fly, Naked Lunch, Videodrome and all the others in this vein. I'm just saying Cronenberg is "better" -- his films feel more profound and penetrating in a straight-up, less labored way -- when he's not working with visual metaphors.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 28, 2007 at 10:16 AM

comment #1

Alan Cerny says ...

Still think THE FLY is one of the best horror films ever made. Goldblum's performance is too good to win awards. You can always trust a Cronenberg film to be at least interesting.

Posted by Alan Cerny at June 28, 2007 11:07 AM

comment #2

sutter kane says ...

I would put Dead Ringers in that category of straight-up daylight films. It's certainly dark, but most of the Cronenberg-ian weirdness is consigned to dream sequences. The rest of it is played relatively straight (if very, very dark).

I'd put Irons' performance in this right along side Goldblum in The Fly. Cronenberg just knows how to get some great performances out of actors in difficult parts.

Posted by sutter kane at June 28, 2007 11:23 AM

comment #3

JD says ...

A History of Violence is incredibly bad. The performances and visual style reek of straight-to-video incompetence. I still can't believe anyone would mistake that for vintage Cronenberg. The truth is, it's an anti-Cronenberg film, the kind of movie that appeals to people who don't like Cronenberg movies.

Posted by JD at June 28, 2007 11:28 AM

comment #4

Bocephus says ...

JD, I don't know what you are smoking but I hope you brought enough to share with the class.

Posted by Bocephus at June 28, 2007 11:32 AM

comment #5

Rob says ...

eXistenZ is one of my favorites. Brilliant, sick joke of a movie. Why doesn't Jennifer Jason Leigh still get those types of roles?

Posted by Rob at June 28, 2007 11:34 AM

comment #6

malibugigolo says ...

I stopped watching History of Violence after it had the teenage boy playing SOFTBALL. Huh? Oh, yes, those cut throat male high school softball games! Give me a break.

Posted by malibugigolo at June 28, 2007 11:51 AM

comment #7

JD says ...

Please, Bocephus, enlighten me. I have yet to hear a credible defense of the laughably awful, heavy-handed, on-the-nose scenes between the teenagers in that movie. Seriously, they are among the worst moments in Cronenberg's career. As a whole, A History of Violence is no less condescending as a message movie than Crash (the Haggis version, not the Cronenberg one), but it lacks all that film's energy and style. And yes, Rob, eXistenZ is a terrific, complex, underrated movie... with real, substantial ideas.

Posted by JD at June 28, 2007 11:54 AM

comment #8

JB Moore says ...

eXistenZ is about as good as intelligent sci-fi gets. I walked out of that movie with a sense of paranoia like I've never felt before outside of certain hallucinogenic drugs, so I suppose it did its job.

Posted by JB Moore at June 28, 2007 11:56 AM

comment #9

Alan Cerny says ...

You lost me at CRASH's "energy and style."

Posted by Alan Cerny at June 28, 2007 11:59 AM

comment #10

JB Moore says ...

And where's the love for SPIDER? That movie is a masterpiece in my opinion. The anti-A BEAUTIFUL MIND.

JD - You're right about VIOLENCE. Weak for Cronenberg standards. I've given it three or four chances, and it still hasn't gotten any better.

Posted by JB Moore at June 28, 2007 12:00 PM

comment #11

malibugigolo says ...

I must say that History of Violence's attempt (as seen in the brutal high school boys softball game) to bring back the non logo, never seen in reality, half stryo/ half mesh hat: that was a Bold move.

Posted by malibugigolo at June 28, 2007 12:22 PM

comment #12

JD says ...

"You lost me at CRASH's 'energy and style.' "

I say "energy and style" as someone who hated Crash. But as bad as that movie is in terms of content, there's clearly some competent filmmaking going on. In fact, I think most people glossed over the film's substance -- which was a mess -- because it was well shot, scored, etc.

Posted by JD at June 28, 2007 1:04 PM

comment #13

Bocephus says ...

A History of Violence was all about anticipating, manipulating, and completely upending the audience's expectations. I didn't see much of a "message" beyond the fact that violent acts always come with dire consequences. It's a terrific message, one that many violent films do their best to avoid.

I thought the kids were fine and totally believeable. A lot of kids in small towns play softball, my 15 year old nephew does and so did I. I really liked the confrontation scene between the two teens. Jack had been taking the high road in the past, avoiding trouble with his quick wit, probably as Tom had encouraged him to do. After seeing the adulation and respect his father had received by solving an ugly situation with violent actions, Jack decided to try to resolve his own situation with violence. I'm sure I don't need to outline the scene for you, it worked for me but it didn't for you, oh well!

A History of Violence is hardly my favorite Cronenberg flick, that would have to be a tie between Videodrome, Naked Lunch, and Dead Ringers. But AHOV was my favorite movie of 2005.

You can probably chalk it up to my rabid Cronenberg fanboyism. He's my favorite director, and he really can't do wrong in my eyes. I've seen A History of Violence at least a dozen times, and have yet to see a single fault in it. I think the dual sex scenes between Jack and Edie are the most effective in any film I've seen, as far as actually developing the characters and not just being a gratuitous excuse to show skin. But Cronenberg has always been particularly skilled in that department.

Posted by Bocephus at June 28, 2007 1:11 PM

comment #14

Alan Cerny says ...

Yeah, he's about the only North American director I can think of (Yeah, I know he's Canadian) that treats sex fairly realistically and uses it as an expression of character instead of hiding in the corner giggling like a 12 year old who just discovered his dad's Playboys. Even Spielberg fucked that bit up in MUNICH (which is otherwise exceptional).

Posted by Alan Cerny at June 28, 2007 2:33 PM

comment #15

lipranzer says ...

I'm amazed it took this long for the trailer for EASTERN PROMISES to show up online. I saw it last Friday before YOU KILL ME. It looked great, and it's great to see Armin Mueller-Stahl in what looks like another great role. The one question mark, I agree, is Cassel - except for READ MY LIPS, I've never been a fan.

I fall in the camp of liking HISTORY OF VIOLENCE a lot, especially the second sex scene. Such a complex mix of emotions in that scene, and all without a word of dialogue. And I've liked most of Cronenberg's ouevre (DEAD RINGERS being my fave, with HOV and THE FLY right behind), except M BUTTERFLY (that's the conventional Cronenberg movie for those who don't like Cronenberg movies) and CRASH (it is possible to make a movie about anesthetized lives without making an anesthetized movie, but he didn't manage it there). Also, while I though eXistenZ was fun, it didn't have any deeper meaning for me, and I probably need to see NAKED LUNCH again, because while there's lots of impressive stuff in that movie, I felt it was a little too impressed with itself with all the plot reversals.

Posted by lipranzer at June 28, 2007 2:39 PM

comment #16

lazarus says ...

I'll agree with those criticizing the high school scenes in AHOV. Cronenberg hasn't had a lot of younger characters in his films, and it shouldn't be surprising that he handled those scenes poorly. Of course I imagine the screenwriter may be to blame as well.

However, I don't understand how one can look at those sex scenes mentioned above, and the very powerful final scene, and say that the film was totally dragged down by the adolescent angle of the film. No way.

I also strongly disagree with Wells' generalization of Cronenberg's career. I love The Dead Zone and Crash too, but Madame Butterfly would seem to be an exception to that rule, and I firmly believe eXistenZ is the best thing he has ever made, and is perhaps the best Philip K. Dick movie I've seen, ironically one that isn't based on one of his stories, but rather some of his favorite themes.

While some of the effects of D.C.'s earlier work are dated, and the actors in those films seem a bit amateurish, the barrage of ideas and images make them just as important as any of his "normal" films. Videodrome is as thought provoking now as it ever was (especially when watched alongside eXistenZ), and Dead Ringers is an all-time classic. Jeff's whole thought-process is flawed anyway, how do Dead Ringers and The Fly fall under "surreal" while The Dead Zone is classified as "ordinary but slightly twisted"? The former two are more "normal" or realistic than a film about a guy who can see the future. Come on.

Posted by lazarus at June 28, 2007 3:20 PM

comment #17

JB Moore says ...

Lazarus - eXistenZ almost feels like a sequel to VIDEODROME. Great double feature those two.

As far as his early stuff, I think THE BROOD is a masterpiece, even though it's dated. Those dwarves and their red hoodies are the stuff of nightmares.

And THE DEAD ZONE has my favorite Walken performance. "The ICE is going to BREAK!" Greatness.

I'd also like to point out how awesome Howard Shore is. They make up one of the best director-composer tandems around.

Back to the softball game in HISTORY - who the hell stands directly on top of the bag when you're tagging up on a pop fly? Just wondering.

Posted by JB Moore at June 28, 2007 4:01 PM

comment #18