film: Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)

[tamaranth]

Saw this yesterday. Whoosh! Highly recommended.

Firstly, ignore anyone who says it's "a Russian take on The Matrix." Manifest bo Nonsense.

Secondly, it's all gritty and urban and unlovely. Especially the interiors, mostly apartments in Moscow. There are little details, like five tins of the same thing stacked neatly on an otherwise empty shelf, that make it real: that give a sense of the set-designer recreating a scene so familiar that it doesn't require lingering shots.

Thirdly, it doesn't (apart from the final conflict) use that many special effects. (Filmed and produced in Russia, though -- disappointingly -- post-production was done in LA. Still, they resisted the gloss.)

Fourthly, it's a film where the vampires reflect (and can only be seen in) mirrors. (But before you stop reading, it's not -- not just -- a vampire film.)

Fifthly, the characters are not Hollywood-cool or pretty: no perfect teeth, no immaculate makeup, just fraying edges and getting on with the job.

Sixthly, there are some medieval battle-scenes featuring the Russian equivalent of the Sealed Knot: clash and clatter and gore. But this isn't a film that dwells on violence or suffering.

Seventhly, the twist at the end is not one I'd expect in an American film, and it was handled with the same honesty that typifies the rest of the film: neither hammered home nor reacted to as a tragedy.

Lastly, we went for an excellent meal, with cocktails, afterwards: but it may not have been a good idea to order a Bloody Mary, having seen the real thing in the film.

Oh, and [FAO ladymoonray] it's first in a trilogy, and the trailer for Day Watch (63MB) is slowly seeping onto my hard drive ...

Comments

[zotz]

I'd agree with everything apart from 3 - I thought it used a hell of a lot of effects, mostly extremely slick, for what was allegedly a very cheap film. Indeed, a few of them could have been safely disposed of. Only a few, though, and mostly they fit in nicely. A few were breathtaking - when the fight on the bridge turns into the top of the block of flats as the camera pulls back, for instance.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I should have said, rather, that the special effects remained subservient to plot, rather than being there just for the sake of it as in some recent Hollywood blockbusters. Given the slickness, it's possible I didn't even notice some of them!

[zotz]

Right. Yes. One or two, early on, were a bit gratuitous, but in the main they were very well-used - tying the scene in the plane back to the one in the flats with the falling rivet, for example.

[dalmeny]

Ooh, sounds excellent. I hope it makes it here.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

it's showing in Melbourne ...

[jhaelan.livejournal.com]

Rather excellent is it not?

*grins*

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that. I'm dying to see it. No (possible) pun intended.

[pingopark.livejournal.com]

I agree with all your points, and the ones others have made. An excellent film, and not by any means too confusing to follow, as the Guardian's critic thought, but then he is often wrong.

Also, most interesting use of subtitles I've ever seen. They are actually integrated into the film rather than just stuck on at the last minute and impossible to read half the time. As examples, the ones in blood that dissolve into the swimming pool, or the scrolling ones that represent text typed on a computer screen.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Damn, yes: how could I have forgotten to mention the subtitling? It was a work of art -- colour and pacing and the ones that explode onto the screen, for vehemence ...

Only a film critic an idiot (or, to give benefit of doubt, someone completely unaware of genre tropes / battle between Light and Dark / any vampire film ever) would've found it overly confusing. Though the end is a little self-indulgent and crammed.

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

woooooooooooooooooooooo!