Eastern Cronenberg

I got to hop the gate at Universal with Scartoe and see the new David Cronenberg flick Eastern Promises, and I was pleased.

Both Naked Lunch and eXistenZ are favorites of mine, and though Cronenberg has veered towards towards more...mainstream stories, he still packs a visceral punch. The best thing about his movies is his fascination with the organic and physical world, and the beauty that he brings to bio-mechanical function and living things. His violence is so pure and natural, and he elegantly treats the body as a vital part of his visual presentation and storytelling. With amputated fingers, throat slicing, and a gritty brawl at the story's apex, there is nothing polite about Cronenberg, but it is never grotesque or unnatural.

The tale, which peeks inside the Russian mob in London, has stellar acting from Armin Mueller-Stahl, Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen, and subtle beauty from longtime colaborator Peter Suschitzky (the director of photography for The Empire Strikes Back). The movie has it's release shortly, and I hope that audiences find it, building on the goodwill A History Of Violence has sparked.