The Night Watch

It had so much potential. The actors were good, the set design was accurate as well, but with the way the plot was sequenced, it doesn't keep you on the hook. 20 minutes through the movie, your attention will start to wander. In fact, the whole first hour had so many unnecessary fillers and the bland music score is that of a typical TV movie which adds further to the injury. Then towards the end, when things started to get interesting and after enduring that one and a half hour, it gives you a half-baked ending. Maybe with a better arranged storyboard, this movie would have been masterpiece. But for now, it'll be a 5.

A beautifully crafted adaptation of the Sarah Waters novel of the same name. An interesting narrative structure taken from the book, the story is experienced backwards in three periods in the characters lives, running from the post war section back in time to wartime experiences of love in the Blitz. All of the performances are terrific, understated and subtle they convey the complex emotional landscape of their intertwining lives and a point in history when the social landscape was shifting with women finding themselves empowered by the demands and experiences of wartime Britain, releasing them from their more traditional roles and allowing them to rise to address new challenges and experiences, both actually and emotionally. The casting, acting and beautiful camera work make this a real treat, with a lovely sense of place.

Great cast and performances in this soapy flick. Those where really dark times for England. A lot of suffering everywhere. Claire Foy, charming as a fairy.

Adapting a book to the screen is tough. You need to be brutal, cutting away entire plot lines, even characters to serve your purpose. I haven't read The Night Watch but this adaptation shows all the signs of a too-reverential approach. That's a shame because it gets a lot of things right, a few breathtakingly so. In those moments, it's unlike anything I've seen. You could pitch it as Aimee and Jaguar meets The End of the Affair but at its best it's better than either of those films. It's Anna Maxwell Martin's portrayal of Kay Langrish that takes it to those heights. Claire Foy turns in a wonderful performance but she has less to work with. Unfortunately, The Night Watch is also saddled with at least one too many plot strands and a stunning miscalculation in thinking that Bath and or Bristol could double for wartime London. I know it's hard to find much of the capital that hasn't been tarted up since 1945 but west country stone and Georgian porticos, along with hills that put Lisbon to shame, don't fool anyone. And there are other misjudgments. There's a technical device which is used three times. You'll know it when you see it. The first use is amazing, emotionally spot on. The second is just confusing and the third downright clunky. As is some of the dialogue. "War changes people... and not necessarily for the better." In a book, that leadenly expositional second phrase may be necessary. In a film, it's amateurish. With a firmer, more demanding hand, this might have stood as a genuinely great work. Even as is, it's better than almost anything else you'll find on British or American TV so enjoy, despite the flaws. You won't regret it.

The Night Watch employs an unusual narrative structure (presumably duplicated from the novel by Sarah Waters) which begins in 1947, then flashes back not once but twice to show us how the large cast of characters came to arrive at the "end" of the story. This device isn't simply a flashy trick; it's integral to the movie's richly layered meditation on time and circumstance.

Human relationships are the heart of the story, as we see various friends and lovers couple and decouple against the background of London during the Blitz and the aftermath of WWII. The atmosphere is dark and sensual, the music is mesmerizing, and the performances are riveting.

I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at a film festival with no prior knowledge of it, and won't say anything more to spoil its wonderful surprises. I can only say, emphatically, that it should not be missed.