On the Daywatch

What are the odds? On Sunday, one day after we went with friends from out of town to watch PAPRIKA at the new Landmark theater, another friend called us from out of the blue asking us to come watch DAYWATCH with him at the selfsame theater. And once called, how can we help but respond?

Responding was actually a bit of an adventure. We had said goodbye to our Utah friends a little after noon; and a couple hours later I took a bike ride south. I was hanging around a store in Fox Hills (about 4.5 miles from home) when I got a call from Amy at around 3:15 telling me the movie would be at 4:10. I hopped on my bike and navigated the oft-treacherous street and sidewalks of Sawtelle (why do so many people park their SUVs in driveways, blocking the sidewalk?) and managed to make it to the Westside Pavilion at about 4:05.

DAYWATCH is the sequel to NIGHTWATCH, the hyperkinetic anything-goes urban fantasy from Russia, in which good and evil "Others" (witches, vampires, shapechangers, etc.) are engaged in a millenium-long cold war with each other -- the truce being kept by sets of cops on each side, the Daywatch for the evil folk and the Nightwatch for the good. Of course, the whole apple cart gets massively upset (otherwise you wouldn't have a story). As with the first film, DAYWATCH throws all sorts of concepts at you without much concern over whether you'll understand it -- you have to just grab what you can and hang on. It's an exhilarating and exhausting experience.

After the movie, our friend asked about one of the high-end goodies at the concession stand -- coconut candy bars dipped in dark chocolate. He wondered how it compared to a Mounds bar. I said that if it saw a Mounds bar in the street, it might toss a dollar at it. He bought his wife one of the high-end bars.