This thriller directed by David Cronenberg shuns the usual Hollywood staple of slam bang action and kinetics to present a deeper study of the characters that populate its scape. The movie is set in London amidst the ruthless Russian Mafia that also includes sundry Eastern Europeans.
The movie begins with graphic scenes of a throat slitting and an under-age girl in labour spasms who eventually dies after her childbirth. We are then introduced to its main characters - Naomi Watts (Anna) as a second generation Russian midwife working in a city hospital who attends to the delivery and grows an attachment to the dead teen mother and her newborn daughter, a brilliant Viggo Mortensen (Nikolai) as the trusted driver-cum-bodygard-cum-enforcer of the Mafia patriarch, Semyon, as well as the best friend to his violent & volatile son (Kirill).
Anna finds a diary from the belongings of the dead teenager which opens a can of worms with revealed connections to the Russian Mafia. More than a whodunnit, what Cronenberg presents here is a close glimpse of the people involved in the underworld, their seemingly superficial normalcy, shifting trusts and ruthless conduct.
The movie also features a singular stunt sequence in a public bath/sauna which is captured in what I would just state as a raw and real brilliance.
Brilliantly acted by Mortensen & Watts, this beautifully crafted, brutal & taut thriller would remain in your mind like a tattoo for times to come !!
Brilliantly acted by Mortensen & Watts, this beautifully crafted, brutal & taut thriller would remain in your mind like a tattoo for times to come !!
A VERY GOOD WATCH !!
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