Night Watch (2004) Nochnoy dozor (original title)

Director:

Timur Bekmambetov

Writers (WGA):

Timur Bekmambetov (screenplay) and
Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

8 July 2004 (Belarus)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

All That Stands Between Light And Darkness Is The Night Watch.

Plot:

A fantasy-thriller set in present-day Moscow where the respective forces that control daytime and nighttime do battle.

Plot Keywords:

Battle | Vampire | Supernatural Power | Truce | Witch

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Konstantin Khabenskiy	...	Anton
Vladimir Menshov	...	Geser
Valeriy Zolotukhin	...	Otets Kosti
Mariya Poroshina	...	Svetlana
Galina Tyunina	...	Olga
Yuriy Kutsenko	...	Ignat (as Gosha Kutsenko)
Aleksey Chadov	...	Kostya
Zhanna Friske	...	Alisa
Ilya Lagutenko	...	Andrey
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	Zavulon
Rimma Markova	...	Koldunya Darya
Mariya Mironova	...	Mat Egora
Aleksey Maklakov	...	Semyon
Aleksandr Samoylenko	...	Medved
Dmitriy Martynov	...	Egor (as Dima Martynov)
Anna Slyu	...	Tigryonok
Anna Dubrovskaya	...	Vampirsha
Sergey Prikhodko	...	Pyotr
Igor Savochkin	...	Maksim Ivanovich
Georgiy Dronov	...	Tolik (as Egor Dronov)
Nikolay Olyalin	...	Inkvizitor
Dmitriy Klokov
Dmitriy Osetrov	...	Militsioner u vykhoda iz metro
Konstantin Murzenko	...	Paren v metro
Anatoliy Gorin	...	Rabotnik TETs
Lyudmila Yaronova
Aleksandr Shchurok
Nikolay Kiselev
Marina Ivanova
Viktor Ivanov		(as Vitya Ivanov)
Polina Shchurok
Tatyana Shchankina	...	Suevernaya passazhirka v samolete
Aleksandr Kozlov	...	Muzh suevernoy passazhirki
Igor Pismennyy	...	Passazhir samoleta
Viktoriya Smirnova
Sergey Kalashnikov
Ekaterina Malikova	...	Styuardessa samoleta
Vladislav Anufriev		(as Vladik Anufriev)
Yuriy Yakovlev	...	Malchik (as Yura Yakovlev)
Ivan Popov		(as Vanya Popov)
Aleksey Kurochkin		(as Lyosha Kurochkin)
Yaroslav Romashenko		(as Yarik Romashenko)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yuri Lowenthal	...	Kostya (voice: English version)
Darian Weiss	...	Egor (voice: English version)
Blestyashchie	...	Gerl-gruppa Alisy (uncredited)
Igor Gasparyan	...	Voditel-kavkazets (uncredited)
Yuliya Kovalchuk	...	Solistka gerl-gruppy Alisy (uncredited)
Igor Lifanov	...	Presledovatel (uncredited)
Oleg Mokshantsev	...	Pokupatel v supermarkete (uncredited)
Aleksandra Nazarova	...	Mat Svetlany / Starushka na plyonke (uncredited)
Aleksey Neklyudov	...	Zakadrovyy tekst (voice) (uncredited)
Kseniya Novikova	...	Solistka gerl-gruppy Alisy (uncredited)
Anna Semenovich	...	Solistka gerl-gruppy Alisy (uncredited)
Galina Stakhanova	...	Starushka na plyonke (uncredited)
Stepan Starchikov	...	Zakadrovyy golos (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Timur Bekmambetov

Writing credits (WGA)
Timur Bekmambetov		(screenplay) and
Laeta Kalogridis		(screenplay)
Sergey Lukyanenko		(novel)

Produced by
Varvara Avdyushko	....	executive producer (as Varvara Avdiushko)
Igor Bondarenko	....	co-executive producer
Konstantin Ernst	....	producer
Arthur Gorson	....	executive producer: post-production
Aleksey Kublitskiy	....	executive producer
Aleksei Kulibin	....	supervising producer
Anatoliy Maksimov	....	producer

Original Music by
Yuriy Poteenko

Cinematography by
Sergey Trofimov

Film Editing by
Dmitry Kiselyov

Casting by
Tamara Odintsova

Production Design by
Mukhtar Mirzakeyev
Valeri Viktorov

Art Direction by
Valeri Viktorov		(as Valera Viktorov)

Costume Design by
Varvara Avdyushko		(as Varvara Avdiushko)

Production Management
Reece Ewing	....	post-production supervisor (as Larry Ewing)

Sound Department
Bob Bowman	....	assistant sound editor
Andy D'Addario	....	sound re-recording mixer
Pavel Doreuli	....	sound effects
Marc Fishman	....	additional sound re-recording mixer
Tony Lamberti	....	additional sound re-recording mixer
Aaron Levy	....	sound recordist
Donald Lyles	....	sound recordist
Jon Mete	....	supervising sound editor
Jon Title	....	sound editor
Karen Vassar Triest	....	sound editor (as Karen Vassar)

Special Effects by
Ilya Churinov	....	pyrotechnician
Pyotr Gorshenin	....	special effects
Angela Petrosyan	....	special effects producer

Visual Effects by
Denis Alymov	....	animator
Evgeny Barulin	....	visual effects supervisor
Stas Basko	....	visual effects artist
Roman Bazyuchenko	....	visual effects supervisor
Gregory Chalenko	....	digital compositor: Bazelevs
Nick Damico	....	visual effects
Sergey Denisov	....	visual effects supervisor: Dr.PICTURE Studios
Arkadiy Dubinin	....	additional visual effects
Yaroslav Dyachenko	....	digital compositor
Andrey Emelyanov	....	digital artist
Evgeniy Gittsigrat	....	animator: Ulitka
Aleksandr Gorokhov	....	visual effects producer
Max Kirienko	....	visual effects supervisor
Vadim Kirillin	....	computer graphics artist
Oleksandr Kucherov	....	visual effects artist
Viktor Lakisov	....	animation supervisor
Vladimir Leschinski	....	visual effects supervisor
Dan Lopez	....	visual effects
Nikolay Malyshev	....	digital compositor
Andrey Mesnyankin	....	visual effects supervisor
Oleksii Moskalenko	....	visual effects supervisor
Andrei V. Nikitin	....	visual effects art director
Ruslan Ogorodnik	....	visual effects supervisor
Pavel Perepyolkin	....	visual effects art director
Angela Petrosyan	....	visual effects producer
Dmitry Robustov	....	research & development
Dmitry Shumkin	....	digital artist
Kirill Skaletski	....	digital effects artist
Maksim Sychev	....	computer graphics artist
Greg Tsadilas	....	digital effects artist
Ilya Vostrov	....	modeler
Johnny Wilson	....	visual effects
Sergei Zadorozhny	....	digital artist
Robert Lang	....	2K data colourist (uncredited)
Chris Wallace	....	2K data colourist (uncredited)

Stunts
Dmitri Tarasenko	....	fight choreographer
Sergei Vorobyov	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Yelena Ivanova	....	director of photography: second unit
Nikolay Litvinov	....	Steadicam operator

Editorial Department
Dan Aguilar	....	digital intermediate editor
Tuija Kotamäki	....	negative cutter
Jonathan Slater	....	on-line editor

Music Department
Norik Basegian	....	musician: duduk
Nadezhda Chibisova	....	musician: piano solo
Alexei Rudnevsky	....	chorus director
Jim Schultz	....	music editor
Aleksandr Vedernikov	....	conductor

Other crew
Severi Glanville	....	2K data recordist (uncredited)
Mika Kongas	....	2k data recordist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Bazelevs Production
• Channel One Russia
• TABBAK

Distributors

• 20th Century Fox Australia (2005) (Australia) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Netherlands (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2005) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox de Argentina (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Bontonfilm (2005) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• FS Film Oy (2005) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Fox-Warner (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Gemini Film (2004) (Russia) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment España S.A. (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Italia (2005) (Italy) (all media)
• Channel One Russia (TV)
• FS Film Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Film1 (2007) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Gativideo (2006) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2006) (Argentina) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Dr. PICTURE Studios (visual effects)
• "LESTA" Studio (visual effects)
• "Ulitka" Studio (visual effects)
• Bazelevs Production
• Encore Hollywood
• KeyArt (visual effects)
• Mosfilm-Art (visual effects)
• ORT-Design
• Perfect Pixels (visual effects)
• Postproduction.ru (visual effects)
• Reaction (visual effects)
• Terminal FX (visual effects)
• WE Project (additional visual effects)

Other Companies

• "Mi" Production Studio  visual effects
• Babich Design  visual effects
• FotoKem Laboratory  digital film services (as Fotokem)
• MentalDrive Studio  visual effects
• Russian National Symphony Orchestra  orchestra
• United Digital Artists  visual effects (uncredited)

Also Known As:

"Nochnoy dozor" - Russia (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images and language

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:18 | Norway:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Czech Republic:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:18 | Germany:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:MA | Argentina:16 | Brazil:16 | Sweden:15 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Malaysia:U (cut) | Portugal:M/16 | New Zealand:R16 | South Korea:18 | Peru:14 | Japan:PG-12 | Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

Russia

Company:

Bazelevs Production

Trivia:

In Anton's apartment, a reproduction of Rembrandt's painting "Nightwatch" can be briefly seen reflected in a window.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Near the end of the movie, during the rooftop scene amids the dark vortex, Anton wields a long fluorescent light bulb as both a lamp and a sword. The glow that is visible from the bulb is clearly not a special effect - the play of shadows as the bulb moves is far too accurate. But if the bulb is actually lit, then there must be a power supply somewhere. If the viewer watches closely while Anton is swinging the bulb about, a wire can be seen coming out of his sleeve, to be obscured behind the bulb. It should be noted that there is never a single, continuous shot showing the entire circumference of the bulb. This is most likely because the wire front Anton's sleeve runs along the "back" of the bulb to supply the necessary power.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator:Since the time immemorial, the knights who call themselves the Warriors of Light have been chasing witches and sorcerers who torture humans.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Kak snimalsya 'Nochnoy dozor' (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Shatter

Shows promise as the beginning of a trilogy...

I have always respected fantasy-set films that try and take themselves seriously as cinematic pieces. When a director takes the actual construction of the film seriously, or tries to, I can respect the intent. As such "Night Watch" is difficult to judge. The cinematography is excellent: the camera-work is superb, the mood is perfect, the effects are beautifully rendered (and not overused), and the timing of individual scenes is consistent throughout the piece. The problem is the overall timing of the film. For over half the film, the overall plot and premise is ignored. It is very much as if we are watching two different episodes of the same TV series; the characters are the same, the premise is the same, it is clear how the plots fit together visually and thematically, but otherwise they have pretty much nothing to do with one another. They are not disjointed in their construction or presentation, it is simply that the plot threads are mostly unrelated.

It is worth pointing out that this is the first film in a planned trilogy. Every hanging plot/character moment in the film is very strongly intended to be followed through upon in the next two films, and it shows. Characters and references are not simply tossed aside, but are led into gently just enough to let the audience know that greater things are intended. While I'm not particularly a fan of this kind of thing, Night Watch does it very well, and I await the sequels with anticipation.

Many people on this board have made comparisons to Star Wars EpI-II, and for the life of me I haven't the faintest clue why. The concept of Imperfect Good vs Seductive Evil within the human soul was hardly invented by George Lucas (though vampires in Star Wars would be pretty freakin' cool), and its presentation in Night Watch is tight and interesting. There is no resemblance whatsoever, this is one of the more original films that I have ever seen, and I recommend it both for its flaws and perfections.