Eastern Promises
September 26th, 2007
I’m behind the curve on David Cronenberg’s Russian mobster tale of sin and redemption, so I’ll make this short. At any rate, I can’t discuss the narrative slights-of-hand I admired most without spoiling the film — so let’s just say that the acting by Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, and Armin Mueller-Stahl is top notch, the violence and spilled bodily fluids are uniquely Cronenbergian, and the script is a wonder of tightly wound efficiency. You can tattoo that on your kneecaps.
Eastern Promises. David Cronenberg, 2007. ****
- Eastern Promises on Rotten Tomatoes
- Jordan and Kerry on David Cronenberg
- The trailer
Mafioso
September 27th, 2006
Presented in a restored print and hailed as a rediscovered masterpiece of black comedy, Alberto Lattuada’s 1962 Mafiosio tells the story of a Sicilian who returns to his village after having made good up north. Played by Alberto Sordi (The White Sheik, I Vitelloni), the poor man and his Milanese wife and children have to face many fish-out-of-water jokes involving Sicilian food, marital beds in the center of the living room, and hairy sisters, before his past catches up with him in the shape of the local Don. Despite the film’s winning tone and a fine comic performance by Sordi, I’ll confess to being underwhelmed by both the humor and the plot, which plays out just as expected.
Mafioso. Alberto Lattuada, 1962. **
[tags]film, 2 stars, italy, sicily, mafia, black comedy[/tags]
