Peter Greenaway's first film in eight years is every bit as enigmatic and tantalizing as the painting it takes its name from, Rembrandt van Rijn's "The Night Watch." Completed in 1642, this work in oils is considered by many critics to be the Dutch master's greatest and most mysterious work.
Finding hidden meaning in a painting has almost become a cinematic cliche of late, but Greenaway's "Nightwatching" makes for much more intellectually rigorous and intriguing viewing than "The Da Vinci Code." That film hatched a grand-scale religious conspiracy; "Nightwatching" concentrates on the enigma behind the painting — a group portrait of 34 wealthy militia-men captured in motion — and its painter.
But then the director has always been like that. His works take the viewer on a journey of the intellect — his intellect. To see "Nightwatching" is to witness Greenaway commune with the spirit of Rembrandt. In some parts he expresses admiration for his subject; in others he inflicts pain and punishment on him.