short film reviews, criticism, and occasional musing.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Night Watch (2005, Russian)

For a movie that makes little sense and is quite often totally off-the-wall, Night Watch is pretty much exactly what I would have come up with had someone asked me, “Hey, imagine what a contemporary Russian vampire movie might be like!” Hyper-stylized to a fault and a lot of fun to watch, there’s really no there there, but who cares? The story concerns the ultimate battle between light forces and dark, centered around two seemingly unrelated events and one very, very tired-looking warrior for the light. The mythology behind all this leaves more questions posed than it provides answers for (perhaps the two inevitable sequels will get there), but the special effects are well-done, and the whole thing has an air of cheeky flair that’s nearly impossible not to like. A bit bewildering, sure, but when was the last time you saw a Russian vampire movie that wasn’t?

Note: Apparently this was Russia’s official entry for the 2005 Academy Awards Foreign Language Film selection. I find this both hilarious and awesome, especially since that year's winner was The Sea Inside.

Another note: Is it too much to ask that there be some kind of standard for subtitle and language selection on foreign-language DVDs? I first tried to watch this movie about six months ago, and could for the life of me not figure out how to select the Russian language feature with English subtitles. It took me a good 20 minutes to figure it out this time. Then there are those films (like my copy of The Crimson Rivers) that automatically start the dubbed track up whenever the movie is stopped. And don’t get me started on the wackiness of language selection on Bollywood DVDs. I guess that with Hollywood blocking American access to so many quality foreign films, I should just be glad I can get my hands on these movies in the first place. Still, it bugs.

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