The Brood is a favourite. I have only seen the disappointing "A History.." since Crash so I'm a little lagging behind as far this guy's films are concerned. Too bad this one is average too. I was planning to watch it; I still might but chances are less.

I caught this today and I gotta say I disagree with the review. Brilliant unconventional mood-paced film. The last Cronenberg film I liked and replayed parts of the events in my head was 'eXistenZ', and now this has me in an almost similar state. This isn't similar to his previous works (AHOV even though it shares a similar premise is miles apart from this one), infact a conscious departure - Cronenberg himself has said he's quite bored of the now cliched 'body horror' and wants to deviate from it. Do not go in expecting anything of that and since it's about the Russian Mafia, do not default it with the Al Pacino's or Coppola's Corleone mafia guidelines, benchmarks and tradition. East Europeans function in a different way, in a very unglamorous way - it's not Los Angeles or NYC or the Las Vegas casinos. Even though they live in London, it's very unlike the London or amongst Londoners we usually believe they exist in i.e. the true image - they rarely know anyone apart from themselves, they don't socialize with the English. Think of a grocery owner opposite to your apartment building being a subordinate who services to the bigger beings who we never get to see until Nikolai's initiation ceremony. Mortensen as Nikolai is perhaps possibly his best execution as an actor to date. I liked this a lot, so I'm gonna catch it again tomorrow to brush up on the smaller nuances I might have missed out on. The russian accent takes time to getting used to, but that unfamiliarity evaporates sooner than enough. Oh, and brilliant score too.

I'd give it a 4 if not a 3.75 outta 5.