NOCHNOJ DOZOR

[crippled_avenger]

film se pojavio na DiVXu. cujem da je remek-delo...

Night Watch

Tue Aug 24, 4:18 PM ET  

Leslie Felperin, STAFF

Anton Gorodensky - Konstantin KhabenskyGesser - Vladimir MenshovZavulon - Viktor Verzhbitsky Svetlana - Maria Poroshina Olga - Galina Tyunina Ignat - Gosha Kytsenko Kostya - Alexsei Chadov Alisa - Zhanna Friske Andrei - Ilya Larutenko Darya, Witch - Rimma Markova Irina - Maria Mironova Egor - Dima MartinovSemyon - Alexei Maklakov Female Vampire - Anna Dubrovskaya

 

The Russians are coming -- hungry for blood! Gore-soaked horror-cum-cop drama "Night Watch" has taken a record-breaking domestic $15 million cume (more than "The Lord of the Rings") on home turf since its July 8 bow. Russian-made pic displays pro technique and visual imagination on a par with, if not better than, Hollywood frighteners, but with a distinctive Slavic accent. Commercials director Timur Bekmambetov's feature debut tells of Blade-like bloodsucker (Konstantin Khabensky) in a struggle between good and evil. Fox Searchlight-acquired pic, first of a projected trilogy, will sink fangs into U.S. market this fall. Subtitle-friendly horror fans might boost ticket sales through strong word of mouth.


Co-adapted by Bekmambetov and Sergei Lukyanenko from the latter's own novel, story's central conceit rests on Manichean notion that good and evil are equally powerful.


Opening prologue set in 1342 A.D. finds the Warriors of Light, led by Gesser (Vladimir Menshov), and the Warriors of Darkness, fronted by Zavulon (Viktor Verzhbitsky), forging a truce. Henceforth, "Others" -- humans with supernatural powers from each side -- will patrol the opposite side to ensure the balance of power is maintained. However, it's prophesized that someday a powerful Other will come along who will be tempted by one side -- maybe the light, maybe the dark -- and who will throw the whole 1,000-year plan out of whack, wreaking havoc.


Flashforward to Moscow, 1992, where the Night Watch of the title -- whose members belong to the light group -- issues licenses to dark Others so they can patrol on the light side. However, the Night Watch will arrest or even kill them if they get out of line.


Darkness's forces have a Day Watch crew as well.


Young Anton Gorodensky (played by Slav superstar Konstantin Khabensky) discovers he is an Other when he's caught up in Night Watch's sting on a witch.


Twelve years later, Anton is now a vampire on the side of Light and works for Night Watch. En route to rescue pubescent boy Egor (Dima Martinov) from the clutches of dark vampires, Anton spots mousy nurse Svetlana (Maria Poroshina) on the subway and recognizes her as a "funnel" creator, i.e. a walking bad-luck transmitter, who will be the trigger catastrophes in the coming days.


And this is just the first reel. Phantasmagoric, effects-heavy finale sees history repeating itself with a rooftop battle by digital cast of hundreds. A "Star Wars"-style revelation about Egor's background and flashback-underscored twist get the table ready for the next franchise's installment, "Day Watch," due soon for local release.


Super abundance of allusions and devices suggest Bekmambetov and company are well versed in classic horror and sci-fi conventions from abroad, from "Frankenstein" and "The Matrix," to le cinema de Jean-Pierre Jeunet (more "Delicatessen"-era than "Amelie") and David Fincher. That certainly won't hurt its appeal abroad.


Nevertheless, film is endowed with sharp local flavor, felt in its use of Muscovite landmarks and, more importantly, the specifically Russian types who populate the wide cast of characters.


Most of the Dark Others all look like Mafiosos or hooligans, with a smattering of nouveau-riche New Russians. On the other hand, the Night Watch and their friends look like downtrodden working stiffs in out-of-date duds, who have alcohol problems (these vampires drink both vodka and blood).


This may explain pic's broad demographic appeal back home, while its good-vs.-evil plotline offers compelling new mythology for a nation still coping with the disappearance of enforced Communist ideology. The presence of august older thesps from the Soviet era (Menshov, Markova) combined with new stars like Khabensky and Chadov and TV soap actors no doubt has helped its crossover appeal.


Budgeted at a rumored $4 million, a lot for a Russian movie, pic makes every kopek count with lavish effects that send the CG "camera" whizzing from huge altitudes and distances to near-microscopic levels. One spectacular, smoothly executed shot, for example, follows an airborne rivet from flying plane down through the night air, down a ventilator shaft and into a cup of coffee. Make-up effects are similarly top-flight and effectively gruesome, climaxing with a spine being ripped out and used as a sword.


Given plotline centers round struggle between light and dark forces, camerawork and lighting shine particularly in the tech department, growing ever more mannered and murky as pic works toward final showdown in which Anton uses a lit fluorescent tube as a homemade light saber.


For the record, original title "Nochnoy Dozor" can mean either "Night Watch" or "Night Patrol," and pic has been called both already in English-lingo publications. Fox Searchlight will distribute the original Russian version in the U.S., and an English remake will be done by 20th Century Fox.


Camera (color), Sergei Trofimov; editor, Dmitri Kiselev; music, Yuri Potyeyenko, Valera Viktorov, Mukstar Mirzakeev; production designer, Vara Yavdyushko; costume designer, Ekaterina Diminskaya; make-up, Irina Morozova, Natalya Bogdanova, Galina Ustimenko; sound (Dolby Digital), Sergei Karpenko; sound director, Alexander Abramov; visual effects designer, Pavel Perepelkin; casting, Tamara Odinstova. Reviewed on videodisc, London, Aug. 24, 2004. Running time: 115 MIN.

 



--

A Fox Searchlight release (in U.S.) of a Gemini Film Intl. presentation of a First Channel, Tabbak, Baselevs production. (International sales: Gemini, Moscow.)

Produced by Anatoly Maximov, Konstantin Ernst. Executive producers, Alexsei Kublistki, Varvara Avdyushko. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Screenplay, Sergei Lukyanenko, Bekmambetov, based on the novel by Lukyanenko.

[Ghoul]

The last time I checked [pre 2 nedelje], na divxu je postojala samo radna verzija filma [tj, bez dobrog dela spec. efekata] i – na ruskom, BEZ SRPSKOG ILI ENG. TITLA!
Da li se u medjuvr. pojavila potpuna, i s titlom?

Inace, Rusi na imdb. su se bukvalno posrali po filmu, kao: užasno naivno, plitka i bezvezna priča, jadno oponašanje holivudskog blokbastera, itsl.

[crippled_avenger]

DOMINION/MOTHER RUSSIA


In the heat of the night
In the heat of the day
When I close my eyes
When I look your way
When I meet the fear that lies inside
When I hear you say
In the heat of the moment
Say, say, say

Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Come a time
Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Some say prayers
Some say prayers
I say mine

In the light of the fact
On the lone and level
Sand stretch far away
In the heat of the action
In the settled dust
Hold hold and say
In the meeting of mined
Down in the streets of shame
In the betting of names on gold to rust
In the land of the blind
Be...king, king, king, king

Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Come a time
Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Some say prayers
Some say prayers
I say mine

Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Some say prayers
Some say prayers
I say mine

In the heat of the night
In the heat of the day
When I close my eyes
When I look your way
When I meet the fear that lies inside
When I hear you say
In the heat of the moment
Say, say, say

Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Some say prayers
Some say prayers
I say mine
I say mine
I say mine

We serve an old moan in a dry season
A lighthouse keeper in the desert sun
Dreamers of sleepers and white treason
We dream of rain and the history of the gun
There's a lighthouse in the middle of prussia
A white house in a red square
I'm living in films for the sake of russia
A kino runner for the ddr
And the fifty-two daughters of the revolution
Turn the gold to chrome
Gift...nothing to lose
Stuck inside of memphis with the mobile home, sing:

Mother russia
Mother russia
Mother russia rain down down down
Mother russia
Mother russia
Mother russia rain down

[crippled_avenger]

pogledao sam Timura...


film je odlican, mesavina THE MATRIX, HARRY POTTER tradicije sa ezoterijom ruskog i japanskog filma.. Timur ne otkriva nestonnovo ali proizvodi vrlo inteligentan i sracunat flick koji svoje ambicije pokriva preuzimanjem razlicitih tradicija...

[Ghoul]

NOĆNA STRAŽA je glup, isprazan i uninvolving 'film' baziran na uvredljivo imbecilnoj premisi, sa vrlo slabim osećajem za likove, pripovedanje, ritam, suspens, akciju, i sa osrednjim vizuelnim identitetom zasnovanim na navrat-nanos pokradenim fazonima iz zapadnjačkih (u manjoj meri i istočnjačkih) filmova, a sve to je suviše komercijalno proračunato (tj. uprošćeno, i bez duše) da bi rezultat bio vredan pomena kao išta više od kurioziteta za koji možete reći: pazi, pazi, rusi počeli da kopiraju tupave holivudske blokbastere – i iz njih pokrali upravo ono najgore.

Šteta što nisu umeli da ukradu makar zanatsku kompetentnost u storytellingu koju čak i najbedniji američki žanrovski filmovi poseduju.

Mali su još rusi za ovu igru.

[Aleksandar Žiljak]

AAAA

[Ghoul]

AAAA

BBBB????

[Aleksandar Žiljak]

Film tek sad došao kod nas u kina.

Mislim, nije nešto revolucionarno, ali je sasvim gledljiv. Ono što me malo iznerviralo je videospotovska režija, koja, na žalost, ponekad rezultira nepreglednošću scena.

S druge strane, dopalo mi se kako je sama Noćna straža prikazana. Mislim, paravan im je moskovska Elektra, jure okolo u ZIL-činama, a i birokratiziranost cijele operacije je nepogrešivo ruska. Ono, hoćeš bit vampir? Moraš tražiti licencu. Pa, onda, sastavljanje zapisnika i sve to.

OK je i što likovi nisu glamurizirani, najbliža usporedba bi bila Constantine, s kojim je stvar tematski i srodna.

Mislim da film ustvari i nije horror, već prije neka fantastika u širem smislu riječi.

U svakom slučaju, smatram vrlo gledljivim.

[Aleksandar Žiljak]

AAAA

BBBB????

Nešto mi se bilo zakočilo, pa sam napisao AAA da vidim kud će to na topiku završiti, a ne da pišem post pa onda negdje nestane.

[Kunac]

NOĆNA STRAŽA je glup, isprazan i uninvolving 'film' baziran na uvredljivo imbecilnoj premisi, sa vrlo slabim osećajem za likove, pripovedanje, ritam, suspens, akciju, i sa osrednjim vizuelnim identitetom zasnovanim na navrat-nanos pokradenim fazonima iz zapadnjačkih (u manjoj meri i istočnjačkih) filmova, a sve to je suviše komercijalno proračunato (tj. uprošćeno, i bez duše) da bi rezultat bio vredan pomena kao išta više od kurioziteta za koji možete reći: pazi, pazi, rusi počeli da kopiraju tupave holivudske blokbastere – i iz njih pokrali upravo ono najgore. Šteta što nisu umeli da ukradu makar zanatsku kompetentnost u storytellingu koju čak i najbedniji američki žanrovski filmovi poseduju.

AMEN!

[sandman]

NOCNA STRAZA je kao VERIDBA JE DUGO TRAJALA - Ili si unutra i pratis pricu svakog od milion likova ili se smaras vise nego da gledas neki bezvezan slesher-film. To je ta ceo-roman-u-filmu sorta

Meni je izuzetno dobro legao i zao mi je sto ga nisam odgledao ranije vec podlegao pricama da je prakticno nemoguc za gledanje. Nije, ali treba paznja kao da citas roman. Preokret je genijalan. Jedva cekam nastavak

[WARLOCK]

ja sam gledao prvih pola filma toliko me je smorio deluje mi da je glupav ili ga nisam pazljivo gledao,,posle cujem da se drugi hvale,u svakom slucaju ici cu bioskop da odgledam do kraja,mozda cu poneti kesu za povracanje ako mi se zgadi film.

[Milosh]

Treba pogledati pa prosuditi sam... Neke je film odusevio, a neke smorio. Ja sam medju ovim drugim, mada volim taj tzv. roman-u-filmu koncept (npr. A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT je odlican!), ali ovde imam utisak da je reditelj posegnuo za min.tri-romana-u-filmu konceptom, a to mi je ipak bilo previse i na kraju se sto se utiska tice izrodilo u skoro negledljivu i uzasno napornu papazjaniju. Lepo je sto su Rusi resili da prerade neke zapadnjacke motive, pa i konkretne filmove, samo nisu to morali sve odjednom i sve u jednom filmu. Ovo je k'o da gledam HARI POTERA, MATRIX, BLEJDA, STAR WARS... sve u jednom filmu, i to rezirano od strane nekoga ko je overdozirao Fincherom.  

[Pajke]

ja sam gledao prvih pola filma toliko me je smorio deluje mi da je glupav ili ga nisam pazljivo gledao,,posle cujem da se drugi hvale,u svakom slucaju ici cu bioskop da odgledam do kraja,mozda cu poneti kesu za povracanje ako mi se zgadi film.

I ja sam pre par meseci odgledao prvih 30-40 min. i smorio se. Valjda cu skupiti dovoljno snage za novi pokusaj.

[Izitpajn]

Videospotovska režija, okej glumci (iako malo previše matriksoidni "joj kak sam ja kul" pristup za moj ukus), okej likovi, dobra ideja, ali zaplet i rasplet totalno nejasni. Pa tko voli...

[Aleksandar Žiljak]

Videospotovska režija, okej glumci (iako malo previše matriksoidni "joj kak sam ja kul" pristup za moj ukus), okej likovi, dobra ideja, ali zaplet i rasplet totalno nejasni. Pa tko voli...

Rasplet slijedi (nadajmo se) u nastavku. Mislim, to su već do sada tri romana.

[crippled_avenger]

Bursting with eye-popping effects, Matrix-style action and particularly bloodthirsty vampires, Russian sci-fi flick Night Watch has announced helmer Timur Bekmambetov as a director to watch. The first part of an ambitious trilogy about the eternal combat of the good (light) and evil (dark) forces, it's become the most successful movie in the history of post-Soviet Russia, even attracting the praise of a certain Mr Tarantino along the way. With Hollywood now funding the final installment and Part 2 (Day Watch) waiting in the wings, Bekmambetov tells us how the first ever Russian blockbuster was born.

How did you manage to make a movie that looks so good with so little money (an estimated $4,200,000)?

It's my background; I was a director of commercials, so I was able to use different techniques, different styles. Every commercial covers different ground, different ideas, and it's my profession to direct and to tell stories - for me, it's very organic. Also, it was actually a good budget for the Russian film industry. It's enough money to do whatever you want to do here. I also have experience working with American producer Roger Corman who knows a lot of secrets in making movies look bigger than their budget.

Did shooting on location in Moscow help?

It's a very cinematic and mythological city. It has a style, a simple style. It's not like Paris. It's ready to be discovered. Night Watch is the first step. We will shoot more movies in Moscow and international audiences will discover this new world. Because as I understand, the international audience think that in Night Watch everything was treated to be look better. But it's not, it's the city. They've just never seen it, it's their first time and it looks like The Lord Of The Rings, very ancient. But it's a real city, it exists and all these characters exist.

Which directors have influenced your way of movie-making?

Lots of directors. Almost every director I have seen. If I've seen the movie it means it's an influence on my own filmmaking. Every movie has a reflection in Night Watch. Even if it's a bad film itself. The character in Bad Boys II, I really like him - the funny black policeman. For sure, maybe somewhere in Night Watch you will find a reflection of this movie. Fellini, or Cameron or the Wachowski Brothers, I like all of them.

A lot of critics have said the film merely imitates American blockbusters...

I heard a lot of this kind of thing in Russia. But I think that's just a wrong understanding of the movie. Night Watch itself is a very Russian movie. It's impossible to imagine this kind of movie somewhere else: a movie with a depressing ending, a lot of inexplicable storylines, strange characters. It's a Russian reflection of American film culture. It's got our unique way but is a reflection of the genre movie. I like to scare people. I like it. The American film culture has a huge experience of that and I like it. But I cannot repeat it, I cannot be an American director, I will always be a Russian director.

With the success of the Night Watch trilogy, will you now travel to Hollywood?

I will. I cannot say that it makes me happy personally but it helps me to discover new horizons and new people. It's just interesting. It isn't my goal to be somewhere in particular, but it's interesting. For sure if I have a Hollywood budget I will try to imitate Spielberg.

Is Night Watch an indication of how Russia is changing as a whole?

We didn't have a movie business tradition here, but that helps us to be successful because we haven't had any bad past experiences. The CGI for Night Watch is an example. There were more than 400 CGI shots in the movie, but we didn't have a big studio with CGI departments in Moscow. So we decided to create our own mass community over the internet to produce the CGI. We're proud people, we created this directly, we decided we couldn't face doing it through studios. Directly it's much cheaper and we had a special relationship with the artists - we could communicate directly. We had more than 150 people working together through the internet. It's a new experience that comes directly out of our limitations.

Apparently there were changes made to the film for the international release...

With Night Watch we took out ten, fifteen minutes of the movie because there was a sub-plot which was interesting for a Russian audience because it featured a very famous Russian actor, who is my friend. It was very beautiful and interesting to the Russian audience, but not necessary to the story itself. For the international version we don't need it because nobody knows this actor.

Do you have a favourite international cut?

With Night Watch we're trying to do something special for France, something special for Germany, something special for England, for everywhere. I think for Night Watch it was very important to have a good translation. There are a lot of details in the movie that are difficult to translate literally; it has to have some cultural adaptation or it will lose the sympathy of its audience. We didn't plan it to be international.

It's a big problem for American movies that all their movies are produced to be global. Everything has to be globalised, the characters have to understandable in Europe, in China, and it's a big problem for American filmmaking now, for sure. When we made Night Watch we made it specially for Russian people, specially for the Russian market, we had an idea to explore it, which is why we were successful here. It has its own voice.

And how do you think the film industry is changing in Russia?

Five years ago we had two or three cinemas in Russia. Now we have a thousand screens. It grows at the rate of two or three hundred screens a year. So now we have an audience. Before that we had only a DVD market.

In Russia we don't have old and young filmmakers, everybody is young here. For everybody it's their first or second movie. It's why it's so good here, we have a group of people who have the same experience. There's a good energy. We have one hundred and fifty million Russians and they are very proud to be Russian and see movies about themselves.

Stalin himself produced all the movies in Russia at that time. He chose Eisenstein. He was very smart, very evil, but then all producers are evil!

[crippled_avenger]

Za ovo vreme iduce godine, Rusi spremaju one blockbuster to rule them all, info na
http://dobanevinosti.blogspot.com/2005/10/blog-post.html

[crippled_avenger]

BTW, teaser za VOLKODAW izgleda opako!

[KulFejs]

BTW, knjiga je kod nas prevedena kao 'Vukodav'.

[crippled_avenger]

NOCNA STRAZA je za prvi vikend imala 1 104 gledaoca a kada se tome tome doda preview sedmica ukupno je u SCG bioskopima videlo 2 797 gledalaca.

[Aleksandar Žiljak]

NOCNA STRAZA je za prvi vikend imala 1 104 gledaoca a kada se tome tome doda preview sedmica ukupno je u SCG bioskopima videlo 2 797 gledalaca.

To je dobro ili loše?  

[crippled_avenger]

u srpskim bioskopima vise nema dobro i lose, to je tako kako je...

[Aleksandar Žiljak]

u srpskim bioskopima vise nema dobro i lose, to je tako kako je...

Dobro, mislio sam u usporedbi s nečim sličnim, ili s nekim tzv. blokbasterom.

[crippled_avenger]

Recimo, osrednje. Mada, film jako kasni za bioskopskom i DiVX premijerom, pa se nesto jace otvaranje tesko moglo ocekivati. Kada imas holivudski film koji kasni, za njim ne postoji natprosecno interesovanje kod dilera. Interesovanje raste kada krene reklama za bioskop. Medjutim NOCHNOI DOZOR je imao taj underground hype pre premijere. Dileri su ga nudili, nametali i prirodno mnogo je potroseniji na DiVXu nego neki obican holivudski film koji niko ne istice.

[crippled_avenger]

Izasao je DNEVNOY DOZOR, enjoy the info!

[anabel]

Ja se radujem, meni se film dopao iako sam ga gledala sa nekim ljutim fanom koji je bukvalno udario devojcicu iz prvog reda koja nije umela da cuti tokom filma, posle sveg ovog citanja postova na forumu pitam se nije li to bio neko od vas?

[Kastor]

Gledao na DivX i smorio se živ. Ideja odlična, priča nije loša. Čini mi se da bez produkcije slične LOTR  i 9 sati filmske trake od toga ne može da ispadne dobar film.

Ne znam ruski (pet godina osnovne škole, ej! ) pa ne mogu da ocenim prevod, ali mi se čini da su dijalozi baš glupavi.

Nego, interesuje me: da li su ga priprosti ameri nadsinhronizovali?

[Bab Jaga]

BTW, knjiga je kod nas prevedena kao 'Vukodav'.

Just for the record: "Волкодав" je posebna pasmina vučjaka.

[Kastor]

Just for the record: "Волкодав" je posebna pasmina vučjaka.

E! Imaš neku fotku?

[Bab Jaga]

[Kastor]

Izgleda opako; ali, kakve ovo ima veze sa vučjakom?
Možda ima istu boju očiju?  

[Bab Jaga]

P zapravo i nema, to je zasebna pasmina, ali možda je uzgojena od vučjaka? To je inače pas-ovčar, koji je sam čuva stado.