The film was directed by David Cronenberg (A History of Violence) and had a limited release this past September in the US. This crime-thriller was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and won three others.
Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, Lord of the Rings) plays Nikolai, a furtive driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families. He stands along side Kirill, french born Vincent Cassel (Oceans 12 & 13, Derailed), the arrogant, spoiled son of the family boss. Kirill's involvement in Vory V Zakone crime family is well documented in the diary of a fourteen year old girl, Tatiana ; who dies giving birth to a baby girl. Anna, the wid-wife who helped deliver the baby, played by Naomi Watts (King Kong, 21 Grams, The Ring 1 & 2) takes the little girl in. She gives her a name, Christina, and eventually ends up keeping her. The movie revolves around Tatiana's diary and the chance that it might find it's way to the police. The head of the family, Semyon, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl (The Game, The West Wing TV series), takes the initiative to save his sons life by burning the only copy of the diary and clearing his name.
It's got a nice side story to go along with the more obvious dilemma of the diary. The final twist at the end of the film is incredible, leaving you completely stunned this happened right in front of you. It's a bit graphic, some nudity and a viable amount of dirty words. Who doesn't love that, right?
If you enjoyed A History of Violence, you will definately enjoy this one. It runs about 100 minutes and is rated R for brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, nudity and the naughty words. Bottom line, the acting was great, the story was interesting and it's got an overwealming amount of female Russian accents. Which always happened to turn me on.
