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Day Watch (2006), Timur Bekmambetov. June 15, 9:10pm. View count: One.
This is some sort of sequel to Night Watch, which I haven't seen yet (but have recently snagged). Spook tells me (and, really, I'm grateful to him for dragging us out to see movies a lot lately; we tend to get, uh, inert [that is a hint to you people who live around here! I like movies! You like movies! Let's go!]) that the first one was flawed but more coherent. This one was, to me, without context, a lot of fun. There was a good volume of clever ideas, and the characters were (with perhaps one exception) iconic semi-caricatures inside human skin (showcasing also the weird Russian human-body perspective [I swear, a very large percentage of Russian film has this concept of humans as sweaty wrinkled lumpy things underlying all characters and interactions. It's got to be a deep-seated cultural tenet]. It also takes place in the winter, so everyone is constantly bundled up. This probably helps).
It's got a pretty visual style. I was reminded more than a little of a higher-budget Delicatessen (the tone is somewhat similar, as is the color palette), but Delicatessen has much more of an archness about it, and its filmic conceits are homely and personal, whereas Day Watch is more full of FX and fairy-tale fantasyish elements. Really, though, this is a terrific idea, to give a budget to a weird Russian story sort of about vampires. This should happen more often.
Weak points: The storyline definitely skewed toward the 'stack of stuff happening' style, but generally I was okay with it. The love interest was unquestionably the weak point (reminded us all of the blond doctor [who graduated from Harvard Yale and got an A] from Darkplace) characterwise, but the other characters did fine. The historical background tie-in was difficult to care about, but fortunately it didn't much matter.
Nick, you should probably see this. I think you would enjoy it.
This is some sort of sequel to Night Watch, which I haven't seen yet (but have recently snagged). Spook tells me (and, really, I'm grateful to him for dragging us out to see movies a lot lately; we tend to get, uh, inert [that is a hint to you people who live around here! I like movies! You like movies! Let's go!]) that the first one was flawed but more coherent. This one was, to me, without context, a lot of fun. There was a good volume of clever ideas, and the characters were (with perhaps one exception) iconic semi-caricatures inside human skin (showcasing also the weird Russian human-body perspective [I swear, a very large percentage of Russian film has this concept of humans as sweaty wrinkled lumpy things underlying all characters and interactions. It's got to be a deep-seated cultural tenet]. It also takes place in the winter, so everyone is constantly bundled up. This probably helps).
It's got a pretty visual style. I was reminded more than a little of a higher-budget Delicatessen (the tone is somewhat similar, as is the color palette), but Delicatessen has much more of an archness about it, and its filmic conceits are homely and personal, whereas Day Watch is more full of FX and fairy-tale fantasyish elements. Really, though, this is a terrific idea, to give a budget to a weird Russian story sort of about vampires. This should happen more often.
Weak points: The storyline definitely skewed toward the 'stack of stuff happening' style, but generally I was okay with it. The love interest was unquestionably the weak point (reminded us all of the blond doctor [who graduated from Harvard Yale and got an A] from Darkplace) characterwise, but the other characters did fine. The historical background tie-in was difficult to care about, but fortunately it didn't much matter.
Nick, you should probably see this. I think you would enjoy it.
