Eastern Promises (2007)

A few weeks back, the theme for Thursday Movie Picks —a series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves— was gangsters and David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises was one of the most popular titles. Since I like Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen (and his full-frontal nudity), I checked it out.

The film revolves around the London Russian mafia and centres around the death of Tatiana (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse), a fourteen-year-old girl who died in childbirth. Midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) finds her diary and decides to find the girl's family so that the newborn can live with them. She asks her Russian uncle (Jerzy Skolimowski) to translate the diary for her; in the meantime, she follows the trail of a business card found in the diary, and she winds up at a Russian restaurant owned by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who promises to help her to translate the diary from Russian to English. Little does she knows Semyon is the mob's leader and his family is involved in Tatiana's death. 

It's a very thin, simple and predictable plot so much so that you can predict what is going to happen next for most of the film's running time. The twists aren't twists as we are told about them when convenient instead of being shown them. The ending, easily the worst part of it, just doesn't feel right with the rest of the story and was a huge let down. 

The plot, however, isn't that important in Eastern Promises as Cronenberg is far more interested in the characters than he is in telling a memorable story, and he does a wonderful job at creating believable characters the viewers care about —whether they are good or evil, likeable or not, they are living and breathing beings and as such we connect with them. Naomi Watts's Anna is too naive and clichéd though. 

By far the most compelling aspect of the film is the acting. Viggo Mortensen gives one of his best performances in the role of Nikolai Luzhin, a very mysterious, intelligent and ambitious man who serves both as a driver and a cleaner for Semyon. He is so intense and menacing and yet he plays the character in a way that you are attracted to him. Vincent Cassel, although his accent did not convince me at all, is also terrific as Kirill, the alcoholic and sexually repressed son of Semyon who is constantly trying to live up to his father's criminal expectations. Armin Mueller-Stahl is sublime as Semyon as he manages to deliver the good and the evil man through his eyes, both at the same time. At last, Naomi Watts gives an underrated performance as Anna, as she manages to be vulnerable and tenacious at the same time. 

Focus Features

Eastern Promises is also visually interesting as the cinematography provides an authentic atmosphere, and so does the production design, and the editing is excellent. There also are some scenes, very violent and filled with gore, that definitely aren't for everyone but add to the film's authenticity.

Despite this, the film didn't quite work for me. I guess it was the lack of tension throughout the film or of a compelling story, but I just found it a dull. I'm not sure I would have kept watching if it wasn't for the excellent cast.

Tale of Tales (2015)

It doesn't happen every day that an Italian filmmaker works with international actors so I was very interested in seeing Matteo Garrone's Tale of Tales when it was released. Unfortunately (or fortunately considering how I felt about the film), it wasn't screened nearby and I eventually forgot about it. 

Inspired by a collection of tales from Giambattista Basile's Pentamerone, the film tells there intertwining stories: the tale of a queen (Salma Hayek) so obsessed with having a child that she is willing to whatever it takes; the tale of two elderly sisters, Imma (Shirley Henderson) and Dora (Hayley Carmichael), one of which reduces the king (Vincent Cassel) with her voice; and the tale of a princess (Bebe Cave) whose fate is in the hands of her  neglecting father (Toby Jones). 

Although it's fairy tales we are talking about, the plot is far from being mundane. It indeed takes some dark twists and turns as it mixes fantasy with gore, horror and blood. Unfortunately, it's execution leaves a lot to be desired and, instead of being interesting and compelling, the plot ended up being tremendously boring. And it's a shame because it got off to a very good start --the beginning of the first story is very exciting and gripping; unfortunately, as the second story is introduced, the film loses its grip --not only the other two stories are boring but they are also filled with fairy tale clichés. The first story is still interesting throughout the film but having those other two mediocre stories interrupting the flow of the first really ruined the film for me.

Just like the stories, the most interesting characters are those from the first story. The queen is extremely possessive of her son, she loves him and only him, and she expects the same from him. However, her son becomes inseparable with his identical twin brother from a different mother --she took instructions from a Necromancer to get pregnant and that's the result. She is possessive, overbearing and cruel and Salma Hayek does a wonderful job in conveying that. The rest of them are too one-dimensional and shallow to seem real and it's hard if not impossible to develop some sort of relationship/connection with them.

The rest of the cast is a disappointment too. John C. Reilly plays Hayek's king, a quite unusual role for him and therefore interesting; unfortunately, he dies within the first fifteen minutes. Vincent Cassel is completely wasted as the king who falls for the voice of one of the sisters. And Toby Jones, it seems like he didn't get his character, just like the audience. The rest is not even worth mentioning.

01 Distribution, Le Pacte

Despite the poor writing and consequent poor acting, Tale of Tales isn't a complete failure. The cinematography is indeed very good, the colours are wonderful, the sets are awesome and so are the rich-in-detail costumes and the makeup. Lastly, Alexandre Desplat's musical score is captivating as always.