| BODIES OF EVIDENCE : Eastern Promises; Sicko : [for Tribune] |
|
|
| Sunday, 21 October 2007 | |
 Eastern Promises [6/10] UK/USA 2007 Starring : Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts Director : David Cronenberg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sicko [6/10] USA 2007 Documentary with : Michael Moore, Tony Benn Director : Michael Moore ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ both films are released in the UK on Friday, 26th October ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THERE'S a fine film to be made about London's 100,000-strong Russian-immigrant community: a dark, topical, intense drama-thriller, say, about the city's Organizatsiya (as the "Russian Mafia" style themselves.) Eastern Promises, however, isn't quite it. While not a bad film, it's certainly a major let-down after Cronenberg's career-crowning masterpiece A History of Violence and two main factors seem to be involved. It's the first time Cronenberg has made a film entirely outside Canada - and it shows, his London coming across as only slightly less ersatz than Woody Allen's in Match Point*. Then there's Steve Knight's script, reportedly penned years before Roman Abramovich's arrival at Chelsea - and, it would seem, barely updated. There's no mention at all of Abramovich or Chelsea - nor of Litvinenko or Polonium-210 - and one youthful Russian is even depicted as an ardent Gooner. That's only one of numerous nagging implausibilities riddling Knight's screenplay, a work which shares many thematic elements, and flaws (melodramatic twists, intrusive sentimentality), with his best-known previous credit, 2002's Dirty Pretty Things. Once again, foreign-origin London-residents are (commendably) front-and-centre; once again, a leading character is a put-upon, morally-impeccable hospital worker. Anna (Watts) is a midwife of English/Russian parentage who, after the death of a young woman during childbirth, discovers the deceased's diary and is unwittingly drawn into gangland intrigues. These revolve around avuncular restaurateur Semyon (wobbly-accented Armin Mueller-Stahl), his no-good-nik son Kirill (Vincent Cassel), and their scarily-tattooed, imposingly-taciturn driver/minder Nikolai (Mortensen)... With Cronenberg involved, Eastern Promises was never going to be dull - he delivers a showstoppingly brutal, knife-fight sequence, and elicits another striking performance from a suitably dour, ramrod-charismatic Mortensen. But too often the maestro seems on autopilot and/or best-behaviour. The lack of Russian actors in anything resembling a significant role certainly doesn't help - perhaps they were reluctant to participate in a production which casts their compatriots in such a dodgy light (even Anna's jovial-genial, vodka-sozzled uncle is an unreconstructed racist). The result is a film with more than a passing "three-rouble-note" feel, and which - unlike Nikolai's intimidatingly baroque body-art - scratches the surface without leaving indelible marks. "THE sick man of Europe" has been a term applied - at various stages since the WWII - to Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy and, most recently, Portugal. According to cinema's leading multiplex-friendly polemicist Michael Moore, however, the USA is currently the "sick man" of the entire Western world. His diagnosis - as expounded in his new movie Sicko - is stark: despite America's status as the planet's sole superpower, the level of healthcare-provision for millions of its citizens - or rather, the lack of same - is nothing short of a scandal. From a British perspective, the American system - since Nixon, heavily reliant on private health-insurance - does seem disastrously misconceived. And one can see why a US-citizen such as Moore, looking across the pond at European set-ups, would feel so indignantly aggrieved. Indeed, Americans need only glance over the 49th parallel to see a state-run healthcare system organised according to need rather than affluence. Moore's film is essentially about the differences between the American and Canadian/European models: he includes a plethora of testimony from individuals who have (Americans) suffered from private health-insurance's vagaries and those (Canadians and Europeans) who've benefited from the advantages of so-called "socialised" medicine. This dichotomy is, of course, merely a symptom of a much wider disjoint: between America's low-tax laissez-faire approach, and the more dirigiste traditions to be found elsewhere in the "west." Moore, however, concentrates entirely one specific facet of socio-economic policy - to his film's detriment. Indeed, it's left to "expert witness" Tony Benn (an extended interview with whom, readers of this magazine won't need informing, could easily provide material for another documentary or two) to even mention the word "tax", roughly halfway through Moore's sprawlingly picaresque adventure. The film-maker's intentions are admirable: the dysfunctionality of America has never been a more pressingly topical subject. Just a pity then that Sicko, while never less than watchable, should see Moore (despite his own recent weight-loss) in relatively flabby form when it comes to the robustness of his rhetoric. Neil Young written for the next issue of Tribune magazine  EASTERN PROMISES : [6/10] : UK (UK/US) 07 : David CRONENBERG : 101 mins (BBFC) seen at Vue cinema, Leicester : 5th Oct : press show (Cinemadays event) SICKO : [6/10] : US 07 : Michael MOORE : 123 mins (BBFC) seen at Vue cinema, Leicester : 4th Oct : press show (Cinemadays event) * It's also, in a way, Cronenberg's The Departed: a not-so-hot picture which looks set to finally obtain for an eminently deserving director some ludicrously overdue recognition at the Oscars, though of course for Cronenberg the nomination (it would be his first) could be described as a victory in itself. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
