vermont23 Reviews

Eastern Promises (2007)

Another masterpiece

[10/10 · 11 September 2007]

Eastern Promises is a further proof David Cronenberg is one of the last classic film-makers left. At the same time, he is a modernist. The combination, in the dark London he created, is a moral tale which makes you think of Dostoievsky. It's a story of crime and redemption with an unusual (hidden) tenderness. At the same time, it is a very serious trip into the rites of a secret society as we can see more and more in our big cities. A criminal secret society.

Cronenberg (and his friend Peter Suschistky) have created another universe that seems another version of ours. As usual it is a mental one, but so close to what we call "reality" that it makes you uncomfortable and eventually horrified. The cast is fantastic and the script is brilliant.

A History of Violence (2005)

the perfect thriller

[10/10 · 2 October 2005]

Cronenberg has done the perfect thriller: totally faithful to the letter and the tone of the genre, he succeeds, within a seemingly "straight story", to infuse his particular genius and angst in his last movie. The actors are fantastic and the rhythm really amazing. It is of course a philosophical thriller, but anyone with a spectator's curiosity can go and see it. Mortensen gives a striking performance of a Dr Jeckyl/Mr Hyde character. Violence is really "gory" and very convincing and, of course, the film deals with the crisis of our times: are we "innocent" in front of violence? Is violence universal and unavoidable? The movie is perfectly embedded in the 9/11 era. It is frightening.