Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
October 2007 activity
Total Log Entries: 46
- Adam (12)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (0)
- Cullen (0)
- David (0)
- Eva (2)
- Evan (0)
- Ian (18)
- Jenny (1)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (1)
- Megan (1)
- Rumsey (7)
- Teddy (2)
- Thomas (2)
- Victoria (0)
Total Comments: 12
- The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman (0)
- Les Enfants Terribles (0)
- 3:10 To Yuma (0)
- The Kingdom (0)
- Orchestra Rehearsal (0)
- The Voice of the Moon (0)
- Ginger and Fred (0)
- No Country for Old Men (0)
- The Wicker Man (0)
- 28 Days Later (0)
- Braindead (0)
- Shaun of the Dead (0)
- Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death… and Insects (0)
- Project Grizzly (0)
- The Host (0)
- My Super Ex-Girlfriend (0)
- Crazy Love (0)
- Freaks (0)
- Cat People (1)
- Toby Dammit (0)
- The Temptations of Doctor Antonio (0)
- A Marriage Agency (0)
- 4 (0)
- The Bridge (0)
- Severance (0)
- The Clowns (0)
- Amarcord (0)
- City of Women (0)
- Boys and Girls (0)
- Breaking and Entering (0)
- The Proposition (1)
- The Baron of Arizona (0)
- I Shot Jesse James (0)
- Little Miss Sunshine (0)
- No Country for Old Men (1)
- Avida (7)
- Dragon Wars (1)
- The Boss of it All (0)
- L’Iceberg (0)
- Lust, Caution (0)
- Bonnie And Clyde (0)
- The Alps (1)
- Eastern Promises (0)
- Zoo (0)
- Lenny (0)
- Klute (0)
Full Archive
Eastern Promises / UK/Canada / 2007
Underwhelming, considering the talent involved. I went in expecting this film to be methodically paced rather than peppered with moments of surreal body distortions, as is Cronenberg’s custom; I knew there’d be no exploding heads or vaginal stomach gash, no leg-length stitching or oozing bubbling man-bug, and I was fine with that, because Cronenberg is such an expert cerebral filmmaker. Only half the movie is what we see; the rest is what we think we see, and why, as exemplified by Videodrome.
None of his perceptual playground, though, is utilized in Eastern Promises. Yes, there are still distortions of the flesh, represented by Nikolai’s inked skin, but we’re never led into Cronenberg’s usual dance. The film, while exceptional, feels wholly incomplete; Nikolai’s sudden moral turnaround seems forced and synthetic, and the “twist” feels almost blasphemous. (Plus, you would think with such a highly mobile network, Semyon or Kirill would have been tipped off at some point to this revelation, considering it happens on a balcony in full view of passers-by.) Still, Cronenberg’s eye for visuals is as strong as ever—Eastern Promises marks only the second time a director has used two little girls to thoroughly creep me out—and Armin Mueller-Stahl’s turn as the bloodthirsty patriarch is decidedly astounding.
by Adam Balz | Source: Focus Features 35MM Theatrical Print
02 Oct 2007 12:25 PM | Submit Comment
