I'm not going to do a full review right away, I'll save that for later in the review thread. I just got back.
Incredible film. The script was far from bad, give me a break. I was surprised how concise and deliberate the film's narritive was. I did feel similar to A History of Violence, as this film is very much something I would call a "spiritual successor" to that first film. Having seen AHOV several times since my initial viewing a couple years ago it's definitely grown on me. I still feel the exposition in that film was a little unbalanced, and that the quick changes in narritive were a bit jarring, but that film has definitely grown on me.
Eastern Promises felt like the same film in a way, only shot from a different perspective and all the narritive pieces coalesced more acutely. Outside of that, every scene had its own weight and presence, and the film exhibited a more, as I said, deliberate exposition throughout. This is the clear work of a master filmmaker. Cronenberg excells at telling the story through offering his audience a chance to observe instead of simply be told. Again, hardly a poor script.
Still, I haven't gotten into all the themes of the film, and the Oscar-worthy performances all around, or the scene after scene that held me in awe. I'll get into that at a later time.
At this point though, I think it's safe to say this is my favorite film of the year thus far. An easy
9/10.
On a side note, I got to see the Lust, Caution trailer on the big screen finally, and god damn am I excited for that film.