Eastern Promises Movie Trailer

The trailer to Eastern Promises. It is playing at the Coolidge Corner theater in Brookline and the Fenway AMC Theater in Boston.

The Russian Accent Won't Get Out of my Head...

The rigor of Mr. Cronenberg’s direction sometimes seems at odds with the humanism of Mr. Knight’s script, but more often the director’s ruthless formal command rescues the story from its maudlin impulses. Mr. Knight aims earnestly for your heartstrings, but Mr. Cronenberg insists on getting under your skin. The result is a movie whose images and implications are likely to stay in your head for a long time-New York Times

Eastern Promises is a film that made me cry one second, laugh another and cringe the next. The imagery, angry, driven characters and underlying theme of deception were well thought out and displayed on the screen.

I went into this film strongly thinking of A History of Violence, director David Cronenberg's 2005 film also staring Viggo Mortensen. If you have ever seen this movie, you will know what I am talking about: the explicit sex scenes, the extremely life like and bloody murder scenes, all with a Disney movie undertone.

Eastern Promises was not like this though. Granted there are many bloody scenes where I cringed and had to turn my head away because it was so life like (my favorite when Nikolai stabs another mobster in the eye with a knife. You hear EVERYTHING.)

The film begins with images of life and death. A young girl, who appears to have been badly beaten, is taken to the hospital after she begins hemorrhaging in a pharmacy. Anna, played by Naomi Watts, helps to deliver a daughter, while the girl unfortunately meets her demise.
Anna finds the young girl's diary, written entirely in Russian, in her purse. Of course no one comes to claim the young woman or her child and Anna becomes suspicious of the girl's needle tracks on her arms and bruises.

The diary of the girl, Tatiana, becomes the voice over narration throughout the rest of the film, where the audience discovers that she was a 14 year old runaway from Russian who was promised a life of luxuries and a singing career in London but was instead lured into prostitution, forced hereoin addiction and rape.

After losing a child herself, Anna is determined to translate Tatiana's diary in order to find a family to take Tatiana's newborn baby girl, whom she dubs Christine (the child is born the day before Christmas). While sifting through the journal, Anna comes across a Russian restaurants business card. She pays a visit to the establishment, where she meets Semyon, the owner and head of a Russian mob family that constantly fights with another London based Russian mob family. Seymon, being part of the prostitution ring that brought Tatiana into Great Britain in the first place, knows that Anna must be dealt with and that the information on Tatiana's life should not be known. He enlists his driver, Nikolai, played by the amazing Viggo Mortensen who could literally play any character on any script if you gave it to him. He was so amazingly convincing as a Russian mobster.

Nikolai, who bands together with Seymon's son Kirill, is trying to join into the family business and must prove his loyalty.

Throughout the film, I was torn between whether or not I was on Nikolai's side. On the surface, it seems as though Nikolai would be the enemy. He is trying to help cover up the rape of a 14 year old girl, which eventually lead to her death. I should hate him. However, he does so many things throughout the film that turns his icy exterior into an empathetic being. For instance, to prove that he is not a "queer" Kirill forces Nikolai to have sex with a prostitute in front of him. After he is finished, Nikolai speaks to the girl, then gives her a wad of money and tells her in a staunch Russian accent to stay alive a little longer. This charity becomes apparent by the end of the film when a secret is revealed (If you want to know what that secret is, by all means email me and I'll let you know).

According to the New York Times:

In A History of Violence Mr. Mortensen seamlessly impersonated an ordinary, decent small-town guy who was also a cold, professional killer. Nikolai is a similarly ambiguous — or perhaps divided — character. He is all hard, tense muscle, and yet an almost subliminal hint of compassion occasionally shines through his icy, impassive face.

The film revolves around many aspects of films such as these, including the loyalty people will have to belong to a family and the importance of having a story to tell, which is apparent in the tattoos that the Russian mobsters have that tell their life stories. Nikolai receives two stars above his heart when he is accepted in Seymon's mob family. It also revolves around the innocence of children. When Seymon is discovered to be the father of baby Christine, he orders Kirill to take care of the baby, but even Kirill, who would have no problem killing another man, cannot bear to part ways with a child into the river below. After losing a child of her own, Anna feels obligated to care for the innocent Christine

According to the Boston Phoenix:

Like A History of Violence, Eastern Promises is tightly wrapped and full of surprises, and Cronenberg unfolds it with the resignation efficiency and grace of Mortensen's performance.

Gone Baby Gone Trailer

No More Puffing in the Movies? Might Happen Sooner Than We Think...

Oh, smoking. You've had a tough time these last few decades. When will the negativity stop and things can go back to normal when smoking was cool? (Please sense my sarcasm...)

According to an article in today's New York Times, non-smoking advocates are attempting to petition the movie studios to halt smoking in movies with ratings of G-PG-13.

The move comes specifically from Universal Pictures, the sixth largest movie studio in America. In reference to the New York Times:

General Electric, the corporate parent of Universal Pictures, decided last April that, with few exceptions, “no smoking incidents should appear in any youth-rated film.”

As a non-smoking advocate myself, I somewhat agree with this decision, at least for movies that have a rating of G or PG. I don't think that kids, especially those watching animated films, should see adults or other children or teens puffing away like a chimney. Because, let's face it, no matter what anyone tells you, smoking does look cool when pretty people are doing it. ESPECIALLY if it is done by someone who you look up to and wish to emulate. Also, kids and the new generation of "tweens" are very driven to do things that their parents tell them that they should not be doing or things that look dangerous or wrong. It is part of growing up.

However, we must take into consideration the timely effect that smoking has on a film. What if it took place in 1945? Smoking was as prevalent back then as eating and sleeping. It was a part of every day life and to not include that in a film, especially in a biographical piece would be wrong. People should be able to see the way life was lived before anti smoking legislation became like the plague.

According to Bill Condon, who wrote and directed the Oscar winning film, Dreamgirls:

“Movies are supposed to reflect reality. You’re taking away a detail that is one of the more defining aspects of a lifestyle.”

Another large aspect of the article surrounds the fact that if you take smoking out of movies, shouldn't you take guns, drugs, alcohol and everything else that is bad out too?

Yet Hollywood is also waking to the realization that a committed band of advocates is rapidly changing what is permissible in the movies. And that precedent could embolden other groups campaigning to rid movies of portrayals of gun use, transfat consumption or other behavior that can be proved harmful to the public.

This is a tough call. I guess the question to whether or not children are affected by seeing others who smoke in Hollywood films needs to be answered to decide whether or not smoking should be banned.

For a fun tidbit, however, the article talks about a website, scenesmoking.org, which is a watchdog site for smoking in movies. Reading bits from the site is sort of hilarious. Here is a quote from the Bourne Ultimatum:

"Its easy for Jason Bourne, in The Bourne Ultimatum, to jump from building to building, drive in high speed chases and fool the bad guy when he doesn’t have the negative affects of tobacco slowing him down.”

Andrew P., TUTD Reviewer

We'll see how this continues to play out...

I Smell Another Oscar for Ben Affleck...

Seriously, the trailer for Gone Baby Gone is so amazing! This film is definitely this year's The Departed and I predict another Oscar winning year for the city of Boston!

Ben Affleck's directorial debut, which filmed mainly in and around South Boston and Dorchester in the summer of 2006, is based on Dennis Lehane's book of the same name. Lehane is also famous for another Oscar winning title, Mystic River, which finally won Sean Penn (love him!) a Best Actor award in 2004.

Here is what IMDB has to say about the plot:

Dorchester, one of the toughest neighborhoods in all of Boston, is no place for the weak or innocent. Its a territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets littered with broken families, hearts, dreams. When one of its own, a 4-year-old girl, goes missing, private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro don't want the case. But after pleas from the child's aunt, they open an investigation that will ultimately risk everything -- their relationship, their sanity, and even their lives -- to find a little girl-lost.

Sounds pretty intense if you ask me! According to the Boston Globe's Name column yesterday, Gone Baby Gone will be screened next week by SAGIndie as part of its AFI Directors Series Screenings in Los Angeles. The series, "showcases movies that reflect diversity in casting and "the demographic realities of American society."

Ben Affleck's debut has also been lauded around the world. The film debuted at the Deauville American Film Festival in France back on September 5th and received a standing ovation!

And little Affleck, Casey has seriously got it going on. The guy stars in his big brother's hit new film, while also starring opposite Brad Pitt in his new The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Casey plays Ford, which should be another break out role for him.


Hmm...he just might be my new favorite Affleck.

Beantown is the Next Hollywood

Just as I predicted, so did the Improper Bostonian in their latest issue: Boston IS the next big Hollywood stopover for the film industry.

In the Improper Speaking column, the twice monthly magazine talks about the three movies currently being filmed in our lovely city. Apparently the new found love for Beantown in Hollywood is due to the success of The Departed and Mayor Menino's great tax breaks, making the city a lot more attractive to potential filmmakers and hotshot producers.

Bachelor No. 2 location manager Greg Chiodo sees more projects on the horizon, adding "people are definitely testing the water and taking advantage of the [tax] program." Which means that in addition to these films--plus Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone, the Rock's The Game Plan and Kevin Spacey's 21--you could be seeing a whole lot more of the Bean on the silver screen.

Hopefully we are both right, then maybe I can finally get my wish granted and be an extra in a movie!

Transvestites and Australia Make for the Perfect Pair!

Three transvestites, a big pink school bus and the middle of the Outback: All three comprise one hilarious Australian film centered around a road trip from Sydney to Alice Springs, Australia in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

I had never heard of this film until a recent trip with Northeastern University and the dialogue of civilizations program to Australia. The classes we took were mainly about the communication programs in Australia, including radio, television and film. One of the most interesting aspects that I learned while there was that Australia is so concerned with preserving their own culture, that the government finances movies to be made in and about Australia. Priscilla is one of these movies. The group of 20 of us, including my professor took a trip to the Film Finance Corporation, where they decide which scripts are worthy enough to receive money. Their budget is incredibly small. What they spend to make an entire full length feature could easily be spent on Tom Cruises’ trailer and food for one of his big blockbusters.

It is one of the country’s most famous movies and won in Oscar in 1995 for Best Costume Design. It also won a string of awards in Australia.

The gorgeous Australian landscape and ostentatious costumes are a wonderful facet to the film, but it is the characters that make the piece so incredibly lovable.

Hugo Weaving (most known in America for playing the man behind the infamous mask in V for Vendetta) stars as Mitzi (aka Anthony) an incredibly gay, but straight acting man who reels in his friend Bernadette (formally known as Ralph) the only transsexual of the group who is a veteran in the transvestite show business and Felicia (aka Adam) the flamboyantly gay trophy boy, with bulging muscles and bronzed skin that every man, gay or straight, would want to spend a night with. Felicia is played by hottie Guy Pearce of Memento.

Bernadette, played by Terance Stamp, is depressed after the death of a former boyfriend, so decides that the trip out to the middle of nowhere Alice Springs will help get over her loss and begin a new chapter in her life.

According to a review by the New York Times:

Mr. Stamp cuts a spectacular figure as a sardonic transsexual named Bernadette, part of a three-queen drag act on a bus tour through the wilds of Australia. Even on his own, marvelously ladylike and loaded with sly, acerbic wisecracks, he's worth the price of admission.

When they hit the road, Felicia declares, “I’ve got a splitting headache” and with that opens the first aide kit to find bottles and bottles of Stoli vodka, mixers and cocktail glasses. These boys/girls can sure hold their liquor throughout the film, but it only makes it more hilarious.

When they decide to stop one night in a small town and stay in a hotel, they make their way over to a townie bar dressed up in their garb, including a dress made entirely out of flip-flop sandals, with matching dangly earrings included.

Out of every man at the bar, who comes over to stare at the them, the only one to say something to them is a scraggly old woman. Bernadette quickly responds and receives an array of laughter from the townies standing behind her and then proceeds to drink the woman under the table going shot for shot.

The movie deals well with prejudice and there is a lot of in the film, including vulgar language spray painted on their bus, a couple who abandons them after they get lost in the middle of nowhere and Felicia almost getting killed after dressing as a woman and almost snagging herself a straight man who clearly does not see her Adam’s apple at first.

The characters use humor to deal with the prejudice they receive while on their road trip. But nonetheless, Felicia still utters

“No matter how tough I think I’m getting, it still hurts” when confronted with those who do not agree with their lifestyle.

The culmination of the film, however, turns the prejudice around.

Mitzi meets his son again since he was a child and his son is completely understanding of his father’s lifestyle, and even at the tender age of 8, has no qualms about it.

When asked by Felicia, “Do you know what your dad does for a living?"he simply responds with, “Yes. So tell me, does dad have a boyfriend now?"Felicia looks both appalled and amazed at this innocent young child’s mentality.

With a new generation of understanding, the three know that their work and the way they live their lives will always be tolerated and appreciated by someone.

The very end of the film culminates in what Felicia had set out to do with the trip: The three gorgeous drag queens hiking up King’s Canyon in Alice Springs, in their full garb and looking out on the beautiful red rocks below. I was fortunate enough to hike King’s Canyon myself while in Australia and that is not an easy task, so to do that in a tight skirt, blue wig and high heels must have been quite rewarding for those queens!

The film itself though, was quite hilarious and I feel that being immersed in the Australian culture for a month allowed me to comprehend a lot of the little jokes and quips that occurred throughout the film, which helped me to appreciate it a lot more. It was great to see a film that could comprise both the ups and downs of living that sort of lifestyle and how people’s attitudes towards them change with the post code.

“For all its glitter, this is the sort of film in which everyone becomes happier and nicer by the final reel.”- The New York Times