Day Night Day Night (2006)

Director:

Julia Loktev

Writer:

Julia Loktev (writer)

Release Date:

28 March 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A 19-year-old girl prepares to become a suicide bomber in Times Square. She speaks with a nondescript American accent...

Plot Keywords:

Times Square | Suicide Bomber | New York City | Female Criminal

Awards:

5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Luisa Williams	...	She
Josh Phillip Weinstein	...	Commander (as Josh P. Weinstein)
Gareth Saxe	...	Organizer
Nyambi Nyambi	...	Organizer
Frank Dattolo	...	Bombmaker
Annemarie Lawless	...	Bombmaker's Assistant
Tschi Hun Kim	...	Driver (as Tschi-Hun Kim)
Richard Morant	...	Flirt
Jennifer Camilo	...	Bathroom Girl
Rosemary Apolinaris	...	Bathroom Girl
Jennifer Restrepo	...	Bathroom Girl
Julissa Perez	...	Bathroom Girl

Also Known As:

Jour nuit, jour nuit (France) (TV title)
Zwei Tage zwei Nächte (Germany) (TV title)

Runtime:

Canada:94 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:94 min

Country:

USA | Germany | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Company:

FaceFilm

TIFF review (spoiler free)

A stark wisp of a film, 'Day Night Day Night' was a last second addition to my festival-going experience, on this the last day of the festival. Each year I try to attend something I know very little about and this entry in the Visions program of the festival sparked my interest by its air of mystery: a story that for the first half of the film follows an unspecified woman spending what appears to be her last night on earth in a hotel room, followed by a tension-building second day on the streets of New York. The less you know about the story the better the experience. The actress who plays the central character, on screen every moment of the film, is mesmerizing as the somewhat clumsy yet fanatic young woman at a precarious crossroad in her life; much of the film is comprised of extreme close-ups of her face, the flaring nostrils and heavy breathing alerting us to the dark thoughts running through her mind. The audience is given very little back story of what brought her to this hotel room awaiting her fate, and the ambiguity pays off in the second half preventing the thrust of her mission from going down a well-trod path. This film could have easily stopped at a couple different junctures and been less successful as result, however the director keeps the story moving towards a surprisingly heart-wrenching moment that validates its whole purpose.

Grade: 8/10