Guardian of the Night - Nochnoi Dozor
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Guardian of the Night - Nochnoi Dozor |
| Original title | Ночной дозор ( Notschnoi dosor ) |
 | |
| Country of production | Russia |
| original language | Russian |
| Publishing year | 2004 |
| length | approx. 109 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 16 JMK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Timur Bekmambetov |
| script |
Sergei Lukjanenko , Timur Bekmambetow, Laeta Kalogridis |
| production |
Konstantin Ernst , Anatoli Maximow |
| music | Yuri Potejenko |
| camera | Sergei Trofimov |
| cut | Dmitri Kisselev |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
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Successor → |
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Night Watch - Nochnoi Dozor ( russ . Ночной Дозор / Nochnoi Dosor, other transcriptions: Nochnoj Dozor, Nochnoy Dozor) ( 2004 ) is a Russian fantasy - action film after the novel by Sergei Lukyanenko .
It is the first part of the film adaptation of the Guardian novels , the second part of which was Guardian of the Day - Dnevnoi Dozor in Russian cinemas in January 2006 and concluded the story of the first part. A third part, which is independent of the first two parts, is being planned as a US project, but without a specific start date.
action
The others have lived among people since time immemorial. These are supernaturally gifted men and women such as wizards , vampires, and shape shifters . They always choose either the side of the light or the dark. One day in the Middle Ages there is a devastating battle between the two sides on the “Bridge of Justice”. However, since both armies are equally strong and the fight threatens to destroy both light and dark, Gesar, lord of light, freezes time and agrees a truce with Sawulon, lord of the dark : From now on every person should freely choose his side allowed to. This decision is made once and is absolute. The warriors of light should be called "watchmen of the night", the warriors of the dark "watchers of the day". The light would regulate the activities of evil at night, because every dark act carried out by another is recorded and balanced with an act of the light side and vice versa. During the day the guards of the day watch over the bright others and in turn ensure that the balance is maintained. The Inquisition, on the other hand, consisting of light and dark, is supposed to watch over both sides.
Moscow in 1992: Anton Gorodetsky visits the witch Darya in order to use her services for a reasonable consideration. She has to bewitch his girlfriend, who recently left him, so that she can come back to him. Darja agrees, but thinks she has to kill the unborn child that Anton's former girlfriend expects from her new lover. Without much hesitation, Anton agrees; But when the ritual is underway and his ex-girlfriend is already writhing in pain, he has scruples. He begs Darja to stop. At this very moment this is gripped by an invisible force that Anton recognizes shortly afterwards as two mysterious men. They take the witch into custody and are amazed that Anton can see her.
Anton is a different one. When he was with Darja, he entered the twilight. The twilight is a place that anyone else can enter. In twilight one moves faster than in our plane of reality, and at the same time people who cannot enter the twilight cannot see the other.
Twelve years later, Anton decided to join the Night Watch and works as a programmer in Boris Ignatievich's company, who is actually called Geser. Recently he has also been sent to the field. By drinking pig blood, he gains the ability to track down vampires. A couple of vampires break the law when they lure the twelve-year-old boy Yegor, although they have no license from the Light to do so. Anton sets out to save the boy from the vampires by "listening" to the vampires' calls with which they lure their victims. When Anton is in the Moscow subway , he notices something strange. A huge black vortex circles around a woman . Vortices are usually nothing special, as they arise from everyday curses that people and others shout at each other. But this vortex is so huge that its effects could be catastrophic. A vortex builds up over a person or one of the others until it discharges and leads to injuries or even fatal events. Due to the power that this vortex possesses, it is not possible for Anton to destroy it, and so he leaves the subway to look for Yegor, who ran into the hands of the vampire couple Andrei and his girlfriend Larissa. The two are about to kill the 12-year-old when Anton intervenes. A brutal fight ensues in which Andrei gains the upper hand, but is killed by Anton at the last moment. Larissa can escape.
The seriously wounded Anton is the night in the building of Moscow in the secret headquarters of the guards Stadtwerke brought where Gezer treated him. Anton reports to the Lord of Light that on the hunt for Andrei he saw a woman with a magical vortex circling over her. He remembers a legend about a virgin from Byzantium who was cursed and later brought harm to anyone near whom she was. Their curse conjured up a "vortex of damnation," which ultimately sparked the battle between the powers of light and dark. One day, it is said, the Virgin would return, and this time her curse would have a final and devastating effect.
So the night watchers go in search of the doctor Svetlana, in whom they suspect the returned maiden. Anton gets help from the sorceress Olga, who has been locked in the body of an owl for sixty years as a punishment .
Meanwhile, Sawulon contacts his lover Alissa and tells her to look for the vampire Larissa. She is supposed to catch Yegor again and demand that Anton come to her. Alissa is a witch and Russian music star .
Anton and Olga enter Jegor's apartment and save it from the twilight - portrayed in the film by cobwebs and mosquitoes , as the director sees these blood-sucking animals as a metaphor for vampires. Anton finds a photo of Yegor and Anton's ex-girlfriend. When asked who the person is, Yegor replies with "Mama". Anton is shocked by the fact that in front of him is the child whom he tried to kill twelve years ago with the help of a witch in the body of his girlfriend at the time.
He befriends the boy cautiously, but then has to go on the hunt for Svetlana, whose constantly swelling "vortex of damnation" first destroys a power station and now threatens to cause a catastrophic plane crash over Moscow. Anton pretends to be a patient and tries to find out who cursed her.
Meanwhile, Anton's colleagues, the shape shifter "Bear" and "Tiger Cub", take care of Yegor, but cannot prevent Larissa from luring him away and using him as a hostage .
Anton, who now remembers having found out twelve years ago that Yegor was really his son, learns about it and urges Svetlana to answer. She finally collapses under the pressure and confesses that everything is her fault and that she blames herself for the kidney failure of her terminally ill mother - she has cursed herself. With this confession the curse and with it the vortex collapse.
Anton rushes to Larissa and Yegor when suddenly Sawulon steps on the scene and confronts the boy, who is also another, with the truth about Anton's former intentions. Egor is appalled that Anton wanted to kill him. He calls the Guardians of the Night sanctimonious liars and turns to Sawulon and the dark side. Anton realizes that the Lord of Darkness planned all of this long in advance, but cannot do anything about it.
background
Most of the film was shot in Moscow , while the scenes in the Moscow Metro were shot in St. Petersburg .
The film celebrated its world premiere on June 27, 2004 at the Moscow International Film Festival . The film was shown in cinemas from July 8, 2004 in Russia , Belarus , Kazakhstan and Ukraine . In February 2005 it was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival and on April 2, 2005 at the Fantasy Film Festival in Stuttgart . This was followed by other screenings at various film festivals . From September 28, 2005 the film was shown in Switzerland. It was shown in German cinemas on September 29, 2005 and one day later in Austria. The release on DVD was made by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment in Germany on May 4, 2006 with an FSK-16 approval.
The production costs of the film to be around 4 million US dollars estimated, clearly American US under the budget blockbuster productions is. Nochnoi Dozor and its sequel Dnevnoi Dozor are the most commercially successful Russian films to date and grossed many times their cost. In Russia they were more successful than Titanic , Spider-Man 2 or the Lord of the Rings films. Guardian of the Night was the most successful film in Russian film history in terms of grossing results, but was surpassed by the Turkish Gambit in 2005. On the opening weekend, the US grossed over US $ 106,000, with total US revenues amounting to just under US $ 1.5 million. The opening weekend in Russia brought the rental company revenues of over 80.7 million rubles , the equivalent of around 2.8 million US dollars. In total, revenues in Russia amounted to 464.2 million rubles, the equivalent of over 16 million US dollars. Worldwide revenues were over $ 31.9 million. In Germany more than 453,000 viewers were counted at the box office, in Russia more than 1.5 million saw the film in cinemas.
According to Timur Bekmambetov, the film is the first ever Russian fantasy film . So far, no films about witches and vampires have been made in Russia because they are not part of Russian culture. American film productions that have been seen in Russia in the last 10 to 15 years, however, have had a corresponding influence on Russian culture, so that Nochnoi Dozor can be understood as a reflection of the influence of the US on Russian culture . The film was produced especially for the Russian audience, which is why it was shot in a typical Russian setting in order to make the mixture of reality and fiction appear as real as possible for Russian viewers.
After the film opened in Russia, there were protests on the part of the Russian airline Aeroflot , whose logo adorned the side of the plane of the plane that was about to crash. Aeroflot did not authorize the use of the logo. The logo was therefore removed when the international version was edited. However, the plane with the logo appears in the credits in assembly . Perhaps Anton's praise for Aeroflot in the fourth book in the series, "Guardians of Eternity", is a kind of reparation on the part of Sergei Lukjanenko .
In 2005 a new comedy synchro of the film was released in Russia on DVD, entitled Nochnoi Bazar (German: Chatter of the Night ). This publication was conceived after the success of many - partly illegal - comedy re-dubbings by Dmitri Putschkow , known as "Goblin" - however Nochnoi Bazar was published with the permission of the filmmaker. The project initiator was the author of the template, Sergei Lukyanenko . The author of the new dubbing was the Russian comedian Alexander Batschilo , the comedian Alexander Puschnoi was responsible for the musical parodies . The text was spoken by Leonid Volodarsky , who worked as a voice-over translator for pirated Hollywood films in the former Soviet Union .
Egor sees himself after the vampire attack Buffy vs. Dracula , the first episode of the fifth season of the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . The Russian original is an episode of the Russian cartoon series Domowjonok Kuska ( Домовёнок Кузька , German literal: Kuska, the little house ghost ).
In some countries the film was released under the title Night Watch . In Anton's apartment, in a scene in a window, a reflection of Rembrandt's The Night Watch can be seen, which is also called the Night Watch in English-speaking countries .
Shanna Friske , who plays the role of the witch Alissa and appears in the film as a singer, actually became known in Russia as the singer of the girl group Blestjashchije , with whom she can be seen standing on stage in one scene of the film.
Differences to the book template
Due to the large size of the novel and since director Bekmambetow, according to his own statement, “could never stand magic”, the plot has been significantly streamlined in comparison and a large part of the magical elements has been removed.
Since the film Guardians of the Night only deals with the first of the three stories in the novel, there is accordingly a lot of leeway for the author to bring his ideas onto the screen. There are alternative storylines in the film that were not even mentioned in the book: The film's opening battle, in which the guardians of light and the warriors of darkness meet, is not dealt with. Likewise, the story of Svetlana, the other, who curses herself, is expanded: She is represented as the Virgin of Byzantium.
What is interesting about the story of the Cursed Virgin, not mentioned in the book, is that it describes why the battle at the bridge took place that the viewer can see at the beginning.
It should also be mentioned that the novel never speaks of a “chosen one”. Only Olga says to Anton that there is an incredibly important company that they have been planning for twelve years, which is a reference to Yegor, who is known to be 12 years old at the time. It is also found that the Night Guardians are very interested in Yegor, but nowhere is it mentioned that this boy will change the balance forever. Instead, Yegor is only a weak other in the book version, who could with difficulty climb the lowest level of a magician and was only brought to an apparently higher level with the help of Gezer in order to free his lover Olga from her punishment, which is only on in the film Edge is entered.
The scene in which Darja Schulz is asked by Anton Gorodezki for assistance through black magic is also completely independent of the book, although it is based on a similar incident with other people that is described at the beginning of Guardian of the Day . Darja Schulz tells Anton that his ex-wife is expecting a child and that it does not come from him. As the film progresses, Anton finds out that Yegor is his son, which is only mentioned in the book as a "parallel universe" when Anton is told by Yegor in volume 4 that he dreamed of being his son. The effects of Darja's lie become clear towards the end, when Yegor hears about his father's act and in his mistaken belief assumes that Anton wants to kill him, which leads him to join the darkness.
In the novel, however, this happens far less dramatically. Anton uses magic to make a man stop talking to him. This violation is minimal, referred to as level 7 in the book, but the guard of the day appears immediately, it is the dark witch Alissa, and Anton negotiates with her that the guard of the day "credit him with a violation". Alissa uses this violation to get Anton to say one of the most common things of the Guardians of the Night: That everyone can and should be sacrificed if it can help the light to win. When Yegor hears this, his trust in the darkness increases, since the darkness in Lukjanenko's world is selfishness. A final decision as to which side Yegor chooses is only made in the second story, when Anton has to find out that Yegor will choose darkness, which is later reversed, but only to the extent that Yegor is completely neutral again.
There is also a power plant accident in the film, which is also not mentioned in the book, when Svetlana calls Maxim Ivanovich to tell him that his mother has died. In shock, Maxim no longer pays attention to the displays, and the power plant explodes.
A subplot of the film revolves around the fact that an airplane passes Swetlana's house and then almost crashes. The only mention of an airplane in the novel is a curse that struck a pilot a few years before the events of Night Watch. However, there was a legal loophole in the regulation of curses. Although the said curse was actually quite weak and sanctioned by the night watch, it led, as it overtook the pilot at work, to the crash of an airplane and correspondingly many deaths.
Olga, Anton's colleague, is also highlighted in the film. The book says that she was banished to an owl's body for punishment. This detention had lasted for 60 years before she was released. Since the film is set in 2004, 1944 is sixty years ago. The Second World War can be classified into this period . One of Olga's comments in the book shows that systems like communism were attempts by the good to conquer evil, but that all systems had failed due to influence and manipulation by the dark and had seriously endangered good. The reason for the failure of communism, which was Olga's project, was a small compromise Olga's in favor of the dark, just like Anton makes to Alissa.
Different cuts
The movie Night Watch was a box office success in Russia. This made Hollywood aware of the film. The 20th Century Fox studio secured the rights to the international distribution of the film. In autumn 2005, the film was released outside of Russia, including in Germany. In the United States, the film was only launched in 2006 in small copy numbers.
In English-speaking countries, the film was shown in Russian with English subtitles, which were specially animated to underline the plot. The vampire lures at the beginning of the film are shown blood red and dissolve bloody. Texts appeared on the screen in different sizes, were faded in or interacted with the actions of the actors. In Germany the film was released completely synchronized. Since September 17, 2007, the version in Russian with German subtitles has been available in Germany as a “ Director's Cut DVD”.
There are a number of differences in editing and setting between the film version that was released in Russia and the version distributed internationally by Fox. The so-called "English script adaptation" comes from Timur Bekmambetov and 20th Century Fox producer Laeta Kalogridis . The international version is about 10 minutes shorter than the Russian version.
The main changes are:
- The prologue in the English subtitled version is in English and goes more into the nature of the "others".
- Anton is a " seer " who occasionally gets visions .
- There are some flashbacks of the witch's apartment, in which Anton is explained what others are.
- The character Ignat, played by Goscha Kuzenko , is completely missing. In the Russian version, Ignat is another person in the service of the night watchmen who has high levels of sexual attraction. Gesar instructs Semyon to fetch Ignat to "relax" Svetlana and dissolve the vortex of damnation. When Swetlana goes to a night supermarket to buy coffee, she meets Ignat. He persuades her to invite him over. But Svetlana sees through him. He fails in his mission.
- Most of the events in the plane that is supposed to crash over Moscow are missing.
- Several dialogues have been resynchronized to make them more understandable for the western audience. Mostly it concerns explanations given by Geser or Olga.
- The song "Nochnoi Dozor" by the band Uma2rman in the credits has been replaced by an English-language track. In the US version it is the song "Fearless" by The Bravery , in other international versions it is "Shatter" by Feeder .
synchronization
The synchronization was from Film & TV sync in Munich for a dialogue book and the dialogue director of Dietmar miracle made.
| actor | speaker | role |
|---|---|---|
| Joachim Höppner | teller | |
| Schanna Friske | Alexandra Ludwig | Alissa |
| Ilya Lagutenko | Philipp Brammer | Andrei |
| Konstantin Khabensky | Oliver Stritzel | Anton Gorodetsky |
| Rimma Markowa | Doris Gallart | Darja Schulz |
| Vladimir Menshov | Reinhard Glemnitz | Gesar |
| Alexander Samoilenko | Thomas Albus | Ilya |
| Maria Mironova | Elisabeth von Koch | Irina |
| Aleksei Tschadow | Oliver Mink | Kostya |
| Anna Dubrovskaya | Angela Wiederhut | Larissa |
| Anna Slyusaryova | Sonja Reichelt | Lena |
| Galina Tjunina | Susanne von Medvey | Olga |
| Alexei Maklakov | Dirk Galuba | Semyon |
| Maria Poroshina | Claudia Lössl | Svetlana |
| Dmitri Martynov | Marco Iannotta | Yegor |
| Viktor Verzhizky | Thomas Rauscher | Sawulon |
| Dietmar miracle | Anatoly | |
| Reinhard Brock | Gennady |
criticism
The editors of movieman.de judged: “Wächter der Nacht offers an overwhelming mix of gripping mysticism, creative ideas and unprecedented camera angles. The technical implementation is so posh that you get your hands wet. This is one of the really, really big surprises of the last few years - and that from a country from which one would not have expected it at all: Russia. "
The verdict of the Lexicon of International Films is: “The first part of a trilogy with which Russian cinema made the leap into the international blockbuster business. As an overloaded fantasy trash, the film differs from comparable high-gloss Hollywood products, but with its confused story and the thickly applied grubby looks more unnerving than cult-suspect. "
Deike Stagge from Filmstarts saw “brilliant, full-length entertainment made in Russia that doesn't have to hide behind its role models”. The film offers a “terrific action spectacle with many references to genre classics such as 'Matrix' or 'The Lord of the Rings'” and “the numerous, excellently implemented computer-generated special effects are qualitatively on a par with Hollywood ”. Stagge praises the acting performance of Konstantin Khabensky .
Awards
At the Russian Golden Eagle Awards in 2004 , Pavel Doreuli and Andy D'Addario were honored in the Best Sound category. The film was selected as a Russian contribution for the 2005 Academy Awards . Timur Bekmambetov won the Silver Raven at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 2005 and was nominated for the audience award of the European Film Awards in the same year . At the 2007 Young Artist Awards , Dmitri Martynow received a nomination in the category Best Performance in an International Feature Film - Leading Young Actor or Actress .
Sequels
With Day Watch - Dnevnoi Dozor 2006, the sequel to the film that the story that appeared in Nochnoi Dozor - Night Watch , concludes starting content. The filming of a third part is being planned as an American project, but there is currently no specific information about the time of the shooting or a planned start date.
literature
- Sergei Lukianenko: Guardian of the Night . Heyne, Munich 2005 ISBN 3-453-53080-2
Individual evidence
- ↑ Age rating for Guardians of the Night - Nochnoi Dozor . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ Naming according to the German synchronization of Guardian of the Day - Dnevnoi Dozor
- ↑ a b c d e Bonus material on the DVD: audio commentary by director Timur Bekmambetov
- ↑ Internet Movie Database : Filming Locations
- ↑ a b c d e f g Internet Movie Database : Start Dates
- ↑ a b c d e f Internet Movie Database : Budget and Box Office Results
- ↑ a b c film starts : film review, Deike Stagge
- ↑ a b c d Internet Movie Database : Background information
- ↑ a b synchronkartei.de: Dubbing speaker
- ^ Movieman.de: Commentary on the content
- ↑ Guardian of the Night - Nochnoi Dozor. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Internet Movie Database : Nominations and Awards
Web links
- Night Watch - Nochnoi Dozor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Night Guardians - Nochnoi Dozor in the online movie database
- Night Watch - Nochnoi Dozor at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Review on ImZwielicht.de ( Memento from April 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- Comparison of the cut versions of the Russian and international versions of Night Guard - Nochnoi Dozor at Schnittberichte.com