Based on the Sarah Waters novel, The Night Watch was a feature-length BBC production that follows several characters, mostly lesbians, during the second World War. The conceit is that the story's told backwards, so we see the fall out of various events, and then go back a few years to find out what said events were, and then back a bit further to find out more.
Andrew wanted to watch this because he's a fan of Sarah Waters, whereas I was more intrigued by the roster of strong British actresses - Claire Foy (sullen in The Promise, a little lighter here), Jodie Whittaker (a magnetic presence, last seen in Marchlands), and Anna Maxwell Martin (don't know what I've seen her in, but reminds me of Nicola Walker from Spooks) - plus cute Harry Treadaway. I enjoyed the recreation of war torn London, and there were some curious mysteries, not to mention a lot of non-heterosexual relationships to enjoy.
but...
The Night Watch suffered from being too short, I think it would've worked much better as a 3 part series, with each part assigned a different year, so that I could find more to care about in the characters. Although it wasn't that I didn't care, I just didn't have too much time as there were many characters and only a short time in which to tell their stories. I enjoyed the film, but felt that there was a mini-series crying to get out. There was also far too much female nudity and no male nakedness to speak of. Fail.
briefly...
A classy mystery with a cast of excellent future stars, suffers mainly by being too short.
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