Eastern Promises

With his own “The Godfather”, DavidCronenberg depicts the grim and distinctenvironment of the Russian mob in amulticultural London. Moving through a darkunderworld, Viggo Mortensen’s Nikolai is therank-rising handyman driver for a powerfulcrime family, ruled by the patriarch Semyon.After failing to rescue a pregnant teenage girlwho turned up bleeding at her hospital, Anna thedoctor, played by Naomi Watts, shows up. Thegirl left a healthy baby and a diary with horriddescriptions of rape and assault. In Anna’ssearch for the father/offender the traces leadstraight to the house of Semyon. And to Nikolai– sent by the patriarch to retrieve the dangerousdiary.Cronenberg’s London is an urban-gothictwilight zone threatened by career striving shadows. He models his characters after aclassic Shakespearean cut. Stylized, hard-asa-brick Nikolai is driven by underlying motives,even when seems to be driven by the goodnessof his heart. In Cronenberg’s masterful depictionof the mafia as a microsociety, where peoplefrom both sides of the law exploit anything andanyone, “Eastern Promises” creates an allegoryof a Machiavellian journey to power.

Red Carpet
Thursday 22 November
SKANDIA 18.00