New U.S. Release

Day Night Day Night

 (U.S.- Germany - France)

By JUSTIN CHANG

Luisa Williams stars as a young woman who plans to blow herself up in Times Square in Julia Loktev's terrorist pic 'Day Night Day Night.'

An IFC First Take release (in U.S.) of a FaceFilm (U.S.)/ZDF (Germany) production, in association with Arte (France). (International sales: ID Distribution, Paris.) Produced by Julia Loktev, Melanie Judd, Jessica Levin. Directed, written by Julia Loktev.
 
With: Luisa Williams, Josh P. Weinstein, Gareth Saxe, Nyambi Nyambi, Frank Dattolo, Annemarie Lawless, Tschi-Hun Kim, Richard Morant, Jennifer Camilo, Rosemary Apolinaris, Jennifer Restrepo, Julissa Pere.
 

Context and psychological insight are the major casualties in "Day Night Day Night," a dramatically limited but strangely powerful portrait of a young would-be terrorist who sets out to blow herself up in Times Square. By turns frustrating and impressive in its austerity, Julia Loktev's experimental first feature is too radically minimalist to find much of an audience beyond the festival circuit, although those willing to stick with it may find it an authentically harrowing if not especially revealing experience.

A wiry young girl with sharp, mousy features (Luisa Williams) holes up in a motel room, where she eats, bathes, sleeps and receives occasional instructions from a trio of black-masked men. Pic proceeds at a slow, uninflected rhythm that gives every ritual and interaction equal weight while stubbornly withholding any information -- i.e., the girl's ethnic background or religious beliefs -- that might give viewers any insight into her decision to turn kamikaze.

Livelier second half marks the girl's arrival in New York, as d.p. Benoit Debie's handheld camera follows her restlessly down streets and into restaurants with explosives stashed in her backpack. Filmed in broad daylight on the teeming streets of Manhattan, these scenes deliberately confuse the issue of whether Williams is interacting with strategically positioned actors or unwitting extras.

Delivering a very tricky performance within the tightest of parameters, Williams ultimately succeeds in drawing viewers into identification with her plight, which is genuinely disquieting. When her character's plan doesn't go quite as expected, thesp gradually strips off the layers of cold calculation to expose a panicky, recognizably human individual underneath.

"Day Night Day Night" could serve as a working definition of a film that provides more questions than answers, and some may justifiably question the value of a film that tackles the most urgent of contempo issues without the balm of insight or analysis.

Dingy, underlit cinematography is as grim and withholding as the film itself. Sound design is almost too crisp.

Camera (color), Benoit Debie; editors, Michael Taylor, Loktev; production designer, Kelly McGehee; costume designer, Rabiah Troncelliti; sound (Dolby SRD), Leslie Shatz; sound editor, Riva Marker; assistant director, Melissa Miller; casting, Raphael Laski. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Directors' Fortnight), May 25, 2006. Running time: 94 MIN.