Cronenberg's Eastern Promises Spoiler Thread

I dunno. I like Armin Mueller-Stahl as Semyon. He was a pretty effective bad guy, despite any wrongness re: Russianness.

Viggo is the only good thing about this film

The cinematography and use of London locations are pretty good as well. Oh, and that fight.

Actually I enjoyed it. But it's kind of an absurd film when you scrutinise it.

I liked the "verticality" of this (for lack of a better word) -- lots of scenes with the actors (esp. Viggo, with his hair tightly slicked back) standing ramrod straight, shots bookended by walls or slyly-framed architecture. I'm thinking especially of the scene between Mueller-Stahl & the barber behind the restaurant -- AM-S standing on the platform in the background, barber in the foreground, both framed by the lines of the buildings and the walls -- and especially the scene in the bathhouse. It infused everything a sense of tension and enclosure that gave the movie most of its juice.

I'm a softie, tho -- thinking about the plot might make me sad, and the ending was a bit of a whoopie cushion, but I liked everyone in it (even Watts, tho she didn't have much to do after the 1st 30 minutes), liked that the treachery was mostly left unexplained until the aftermath, and had no problem w/ the voiceover (it lent the scene w/ the girl singing right before Viggo paid her a little after-the-fact oomph) or the TWIST.

i loved this

when i watch movies i'm not comparing them to other movies on a scale of one to fucking ten, although if i had to choose a grade i'd give this one a V for VIGGO

i agree with all of lauren's posts and i think the fact that it's even possible to observe what she observed shows what a fully imagined world cronenberg creates. the loose ends aren't in the plot, they're in little provocations and niggles that are just irreducibly there, and set my imagination off. he draws my attention to things that other directors don't - the sound of a tattoo needle; jumping up to get the balloon in the netting; the unsatisfying physicality of a useless motorcycle kickstarter - even if the story itself is no great shakes on paper. i like that he decided to do a genre piece and bring that sensibility, rather than do another freakazoid gristle gun hallucination. even history of violence was too shaggy dog for me.

other things i want to remember:

the little violinist girls

the idiot kid happily yelling "arsenal" in the middle of 10,000 chelsea fans, wearing the wrong color scarf, and then actually pissing on someone's grave - hmm you think he's got something coming to him? woops, your neck just turned into a waterfall. you don't really see that type of thing in a stephen frears movie.

i was also pleased to see that the opening scene (in the barber shop) was set on one of my local high streets, broadway market! now that i think about it, the argentinian restaurant has photos of viggo and cronenberg in there, looking tired, with their arms around a couple of the chefs.

about the reveal, yeah - i was thinking: it doesn't change anything about the story. the story would be stronger if he was just a criminal with a heart of gold, right? but i think i know why it's this way. because it adds a whole whonking gallon of difficulty to his relationship w/naomi watts. it offers him a chance that a normal criminal wouldn't have, a chance to hang it all up - the tooth removal and the almost-getting-killed - and cash it in with naomi watts. but it clashes with his passion, to go as far as he can, to take out the really big dogs. viggo being a cop means he gets to wrestle with this question. i'm kind of glad we don't get some drawn-out scene spelling out this tug-of-war in his heart. we just infer it, from that last, short scene of him at the table in the restaurant.

also vincent cassell was tremendous

yes this was pretty tremendous

Apparently Cronenberg & Viggo have a sequel in the works.

yeah, it's really beguiling. i remember thinking i wanted it go on much longer, it was such a pleasure just watching the characters inhabit this super detailed world. so many great locations too: the restaurant/club, the bathhouse, the cemetery, that weird slipway on the river.

x-post uh, cool i get my wish i guess

<3<3<3 this movie; it definitely stands up to repeat viewings

I liked it. The diary readings were occasionally painful tho iirc

were there any real russians in this movie?

dope movie. fight scene is one of the best i've ever seen

yeah that fight was ridiculous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mark_of_Cain_(2000_film)

been meaning to get a t()rrent of that^.Anyone seen it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mark_of_Cain_(2000_film)

link fucked up

asdgsdfbgg

Can't help feeling I'd have preferred this film had the same raw material been dumped in the hands of Polanski.

i feel the same way about transformers

s1ocki otm here. watts was so insufferably morally offended college freshman here

http://www.avclub.com/article/eastern-promises-sequel-getting-ready-film-march-248596

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/1920_zpsjtt5rcby.jpg

hope they show us how he got his powars

Hurting & s1ocki were on teh drugs