Day Night Day Night (2006)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

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:

Backpack | Bomber | Suicide Bomber | Bus | Hands

Awards:

6 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Luisa Williams	...	She / Leah Cruz
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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
JoJo Shaffer	...	Shopper

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

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

Country:

USA | Germany | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Stamford, Connecticut, USA

Company:

FaceFilm

Unique, Creepy, Slow

Caught this at an art theater last night, and the crowd afterward was split about 50/50 as to how they received the film.

One side admitted that the film was unique while avoiding any trace of pretentiousness and that Loktev was captivating. Still, these people felt that the film’s incredibly slow pace was too much to bear. I understand this sentiment, but I don't agree with it. Likewise, just about everyone thought the film was very creepy, and while this turned on many in the art-house crowd, it repelled nearly as many.

Personally, I like creepy movies, and I thought the creepiness was magnified wonderfully by the slow pace. It felt like a snuff film combined with soft-core child porn combined with _The Passion of Joan of Arc_. Seriously, it was that creepy. And that added creepiness greatly to the suspense—I literally jumped a little bit out of my chair at one point, and I can only remember doing that a handful of times in my history of movie-going.

Still, I don’t know whether or not the slow pace would hold up well to repeated viewings, and it's not like the pacing was perfect; shaving ten minutes overall probably would have helped. But I still think the film was effective and unique enough to deserve a high rating.