the vor have come!

brutal
visceral
menacing
electrifying
and completely mesmerizing...

watched david cronenburg's EASTERN PROMISES last night...it's the companion piece to his incredible A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE...a tale of deception, betrayal and brutality in the russian underworld...

cronenburg has crafted a masterpiece of intensity in this movie...dissecting human behaviour right down to its most intense and uncomfortable parts...the movie is subtle in its premise, yet the effect is like a ton of bricks hitting one in the face...

not gonna elaborate on the plotline itself but just to say that the screenplay is smart, pacy and punchy...you'll just have to watch the movie for the story...what i shall attempt to enlighten on are the various roles that the actors play...


viggo mortensen is inspired in his portrayal of the mysterious nikolai, brooding and dark yet somehow allowing a pinch of humanity through...you know that he's brutal and lethal, yet you cannot help but be drawn irresistibly to his humanity which seeps through his cold outer shell...

armin mueller-stahl as semyon mixes the gentility of an ole-school gangster with the cold, hard steel of a scalpel...much more natural somehow than the somewhat campy (in comparison of course) brando in the celebrated coppola epic, the godfather...


naomi watts is luminous in her role as anna khitrova (anna ivanova, using the russian patronymic form)...innocent, yet jaded and more than slightly hardened)...can't believe she's already turning 40 this year...still ethereally beautiful, even in the absence of makeup...


the star for me though is vince cassel, the conflicted drunkard son of the vor clanchief, playing the most frenzied, freaked-out, self-hating character to come along in a movie in recent memory...in spite of things, you will find yourself feeling sorry for his character...so aching for his father's approval yet subtly hating him at the same time...

oh and that turkish bath scene was completely out of this world...forget about the fact that viggo's family heirlooms were out there for the world to see (yes girls, aragorn in full frontal nudity!!!)...focus on the stark clarity of that brutal struggle for survival amidst the steam, with knives flashing and blood oozing...my word! how frickin' fantastically kinetic!

overall, a highly recommended 8-1/2 outta 10 for me...