Deadly Promises - Eastern Promises

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Movie
German title Deadly Promises - Eastern Promises
Original title Eastern Promises
Country of production UK ,
Canada
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 16
Rod
Director David Cronenberg
script Steven Knight
production Robert Lantos ,
Paul Webster
music Howard Shore
camera Peter Suschitzky
cut Ronald Sanders
occupation

Deadly Promises - Eastern Promises (Original title: Eastern Promises ) is a British - Canadian thriller from 2007 . Directed by David Cronenberg , the screenplay was written by Steven Knight . Viggo Mortensen , Vincent Cassel , Naomi Watts and Armin Mueller-Stahl can be seen in the leading roles .

action

Russian-born Nikolai Luschin officially works as a driver for the alcoholic and mentally unstable Kirill. His father Semjon heads an organization of the Russian mafia in London , which belongs to the brotherhood Wory w Sakone (Thieves in Law) . Behind the scenes, Nikolai ensures that the consequences of Kirill's excesses are eliminated. When Kirill has a man murdered who had insulted him, Nikolai makes the corpse unrecognizable before he sinks it in the Thames.

Anna Khitrova, herself of half Russian descent, works as a midwife in a London hospital. One day a young Russian girl dies there while giving birth to her child. Due to her own miscarriage, Anna experiences this intensely and researches the child's ancestry: She asks her uncle Stepan to translate the diary found on the girl. But the uncle refuses to interfere in foreign affairs at first. Shortly afterwards, Anna visits a Russian restaurant whose business card she found in her diary. Semjon, the owner of the restaurant, claims not to know the girl. When he learns about the diary, he persuades Anna to have him translate it. She brings him a copy of the diary. In the meantime, her uncle has also started translating. When he finds out that the girl Tatiana had something to do with the Wory w Sakone , Stepan begs Anna to stop looking.

At the next meeting with Semjon, he pretends to be worried about his son Kirill, whose illegal acts are hinted at in the diary. So he asks Anna for the original. In reality, however, the diary shows that Semjon himself raped Tatiana in order to make her compliant as a prostitute. When Anna became more and more suspicious, Semyon asked Nikolai to get the diary and get rid of Anna's uncle Stepan.

Apparently as a reward for his reliability Nikolai is promoted in the mafia hierarchy at the instigation of Semyon and tattooed with the stars provided for it. In reality, this promotion is an intrigue by Semyon, because his son Kirill had a Chechen leader killed. His brothers now want to take revenge on Kirill, but do not know what he looks like. Semjon arranges a meeting in the sauna, but sends Nikolai instead of Kirill. Because of the tattoos, the two killers mistake Nikolai for Kirill and try to murder him. But the unarmed, naked Nikolai manages to kill the two attackers. At the hospital he receives a visit from Scotland Yard . It turns out that Nikolai is an undercover agent for the FSB who is supposed to blow up the Wory from the inside out. To do this, he wants to stay with them, even though the officer offers to get him out. Nikolai is also visited by Anna at the bedside, who demands an explanation of the disappearance of her uncle Stepan. He reveals to Anna that he just pretended to murder her uncle and that he is hiding in a hotel in Scotland. A romance is emerging between the two.

Shortly thereafter, Kirill kidnapped the baby, as its DNA would prove that Semjon raped Tatiana. He wants to drown the child in the Thames - probably on the orders of his father. This can be prevented by Nikolai and Anna at the last moment: Nikolai appeals to Kirill's conscience and their friendship. In the last scenes you can see that Anna has adopted the baby and is safe while Nikolai sits in Semjon's restaurant with a stony face. He has succeeded the Mafia boss.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on September 13, 2007 that the film was no ordinary thriller - just as Cronenberg was no ordinary director. The key question of the film is not how , but why . He tells about “plausible human beings”, which Ebert prefers to tell about simple characters.

Carina Chocano wrote in the Los Angeles Times on September 14, 2007 that the film was "masterfully executed". The director used to address the fear of technology in his films, now he is addressing xenophobia .

Gernot Gricksch wrote in TV Digital on December 14, 2007 that, compared to this film, Departed was just a commercial crime thriller. This is a dense, bitter and harsh underworld epic and sets new standards for the genre.

The lexicon of international films judged: “Not a classic genre film, but an extremely intense noir drama about the post-socialist 'Russian scene', in which the coexistence of comfort and violence is more shocking than brutal excesses. The criminal form of modern economy is reflected in the Mafia structures with a lot of melancholy. An intelligent film on a high dramaturgical and stylistic level, which comes up with staged surprises and excellent actors and whose images will be remembered for a long time. "

Awards

Viggo Mortensen at the 2008 British Academy Film Awards

David Cronenberg won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007 . The film was nominated in six categories at the Satellite Awards 2007 : Best Picture, Director, Leading Actor (Viggo Mortensen), Screenplay, Score, and Editing. Mortensen was also nominated for the 2007 Chicago Film Critics Association Award .

The film was nominated in three categories at the 2008 Golden Globe Awards : Best Picture - Drama , Viggo Mortensen for Best Actor - Drama, and Best Score . It was nominated for British Film of the Year title at the 2008 London Critics Circle Film Awards . Viggo Mortensen was nominated for the 2008 Screen Actors Guild Award and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award . Viggo Mortensen was also nominated for an Oscar and a British Academy Film Award .

backgrounds

The film was shot in London . Its production amounted to an estimated 25 million pounds sterling . The film had its world premiere on September 8, 2007 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival . The widespread release started on September 13, 2007 in Russia and on September 14, 2007 in the USA, where the film grossed approximately 16.87 million US dollars by October 21, 2007 . The German theatrical release took place on December 27, 2007.

Trivia

  • The bathhouse in the film really does exist. It is located in the London borough of Finsbury , on the corner of Ironmonger Row and Norman Street.
  • Mortensen's tattoos looked so real that guests at a Russian restaurant he visited while filming were holding their breaths and were silent when he entered. They believed he was a high level wor . It wasn't until he spoke English that you could see people relaxing. However, Armin Mueller-Stahl says he heard that some visitors had left the restaurant immediately.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Jump up ↑ Release Certificate for Deadly Promises - Eastern Promises . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2007 (PDF; test number: 112 494 K).
  2. ^ Age rating for Deadly Promises - Eastern Promises . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ^ Film review by Roger Ebert, accessed on September 16, 2007
  4. ^ Film review by Carina Chocano, accessed on September 16, 2007
  5. ↑ Deadly Promises - Eastern Promises. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. ↑ Awards
  7. ^ Filming locations for Eastern Promises, accessed September 16, 2007
  8. ^ Box office / business for Eastern Promises, accessed January 14, 2008
  9. ^ Opening dates for Eastern Promises, accessed October 29, 2007
  10. ↑ accessed on December 12, 2009