night watch

this is a russian movie about vampires. i had rented this one once before, but didn't realize that the disc had two sides. i ended up watching the side that did not have an english dub, so it was really confusing and hard to follow. this time i didn't make the same mistake! the story is about this hidden underworld where there are people working for the light side, and the dark side. they are constantly trying to keep a balance in this world. both sides have people who work for them who keep the other side in check. those who work for the light keeping the dark in check are called night watch, those who work for the dark keeping the light in check are called day watch. over the course of the film we get to know some of the agents from both night and day watches. they are all on a quest to find and turn the one chosen boy who will, once and for all, tip the scales in the favor of which ever side he chooses.
the director behind this film is truly a visionary. his unusual sense of style and storytelling perspective are very unique. after this movie, and its sequel were such huge hits in russia, he was given a hollywood movie to try his unique style (the film he made was 'wanted'). this particular film, though, benefits greatly from the different perspective and ideas presented. russian culture has many similar things as us, they have myths and legends about vampires and other things, but they are certainly different than the ideas we are used to. the film works from those culturally understood ideas. they don't bother to explain the russian history of these myths and legends, which just adds to the mysterious quality of the film. in it curses are taken literally, the light and dark sides of the battle are portrayed in ways that are different than they are in western movies. all this together adds up to a pretty strange film- which was actually really cool! (now that i watched it in english...)