EASTERN PROMISES

Year: 2007
USA: Focus Features
UK: Pathe Distribution
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Jerzy Skolimowski, Shannon-Fleur Roux, Josef Altin, Mina E Mina, Aleksander Mikic, Sarah Jeanne Labrosse, Donald Sumpter, Rhodri Miles, Lalita Ahmed, Badi Uzzaman, Dona Croll, Raza Jaffrey, Mia Soteriou, Tatiana Maslany, Mike Sarne, Lillibet Langley, Rad Kaim, Tereza Srbova, Elisa Lasowski, Christina Catalina, Alice Henley, Faton Gerbeshi, David Papava,Tamer Hassan, Gergo Danka, Boris Isarov, Yuri Klimov, Andrzej Borkowski, Olegar Fedoro
Director: David Cronenberg
Countries: UK / Canada
USA & UK: 100 mins
USA Rated: R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity
UK Certificate: 18 contains strong bloody violence
USA Release Date: 14 September 2007
UK Release Date: 26 October 2007

Synopsis

New thriller EASTERN PROMISES re-teams acclaimed director David Cronenberg with his A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE leading man Viggo Mortensen and is written by Steve Knight (Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of DIRTY PRETTY THINGS).

As in the earlier film, director and star together explore the psyche, physicality, and fortunes of a man whose true nature may never be wholly revealed.

The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Mr Mortensen) is a driver for one of London's most notorious organised crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon (Academy Award nominee Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core, the family's fortunes are tested by Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father.

But Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova (Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts), a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby's lineage and relatives. The girl's personal diary also survives her; it is written in Russian, and Anna seeks answers in it.

Anna's mother Helen (Sinead Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna's irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) urges caution. He is right to do so; by delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory.

With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. The family tightens its grip on him; who can, or should, he trust? Several lives - including his own - hang in the balance as a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution reverberates through the darkest corners of both the family and London itself.

Made on location in London and at 3 Mills Studios, London, England, EASTERN PROMISES is directed by renowned director David Cronenberg (CRASH, eXistenZ, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE).