Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch)

I’m very much behind the times on Russian sf&fantasy (I still have several seminal books by the Strugacki brothers to read), but I’ve made it through several of Sergey Lukanyenko’s novels – all enjoyable and with a fresh charm that’s a welcome relief after all the post-modern, self-referencing Western stuff. I’ve yet to read „Nochnoi Dozor” and its sequels, but after seeing the movie, I know it’ll be good.

It’s an urban fantasy, with the forces of light and darkness (vamps on the left, weres on the right, as usual, but they are by far not the only players) living in present-day Moscow. The whole thing is set in cyberpunk aesthetics, with everything dirty and beat up and edgy. This is staggered with wild, pulsing editing, and bloody astounding effects. The visuals are gorgeous in a gritty, real way.

What really made the movie for me were the actors. They’re all talented and very much into it – no winking across the fourth wall. Of course, they have the advantage of a superior script and no too-long moments – the pacing is very good. The ending might be a little weak, but only because they needed to set up part two of the trilogy, of course :)

And then there’s all the Bulgakov flavour – Russian reality at its best. Supposedly, the books have even more, so I’m off to the bookshop, and since the Fox Searchlight division is distributing the movie, everyone else should go see it already :P