Day Night Day Night

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Day Night Day Night
Film poster
Directed byJulia Loktev
Written byJulia Loktev
Produced byMelanie Judd
Jessica Levin
StarringLuisa Williams
Josh Phillip Weinstein
Gareth Saxe
Nyambi Nyambi
CinematographyBenoît Debie
Edited byJulia Loktev
Michael Taylor
Distributed byIFC Films
Release dates
  • May 25, 2006 (2006-05-25) (Cannes)
  • May 9, 2007 (2007-05-09) (United States)
Running time
94 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Germany
France
LanguageEnglish
Box office$35,933

Day Night Day Night is a 2006 drama film written and directed by Julia Loktev. It documents 48 hours in the life of an anonymous 19-year-old as she prepares to become a suicide bomber in Times Square. It premiered on May 25, 2006 in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 58th Annual Cannes Film Festival.[1]

Cast[edit]

  • Luisa Williams as She
  • Josh P. Weinstein as Commander
  • Gareth Saxe as Organizer
  • Nyambi Nyambi as Organizer
  • Frank Dattolo as Bombmaker
  • Annemarie Lawless as Bombmaker's Assistant

Release[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 69% based on 45 reviews, and an average rating of 6.6/10.[2] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3]

Variety's Justing Chang wrote "a dramatically limited but strangely powerful portrait of a young would-be terrorist who sets out to blow herself up in Times Square," adding, "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."[1]

Slant's Ed Gonzalez described the film as "nothing more, nothing less than another exercise in sadistic immediacy."[4]

Williams received positive reviews for her film debut. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote "To study the unsettled emotional weather on the face of Luisa Williams, the intense, dark-eyed star of 'Day Night Day Night,' is to be reminded of Norma Desmond’s famous boast, 'We had faces then.'"[5]

"Determination, rage, uncertainty, bravado, modesty and panic are among the feelings that flicker over her slightly feral features," Holden wrote. "Whatever her ancestry (Ms. Williams is a native New Yorker making her screen debut), she has a face you’ll never forget."

Ty Burr described Williams as "remarkable" in a short piece for Movie Nation.[6]

"Williams emits a sort of radiance...she has an unforgettable face, the way women in certain European art movies do," Wesley Morris wrote for The Boston Globe. "There's nothing conventional about it: Her dark, tired-seeming eyes recede into their sockets, her mouth and nose are almost beak-like, drawn into a sort of permanent frown...in the film's agonizing last 20 minutes, her severe and opaque countenance opens into a universe of transparent emotional distress."[7]

Accolades[edit]

Day Night Day Night won the Regard Jeune award for young filmmakers at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.,[8] the Maverick Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2006 Woodstock Film Festival.,[9] and Feature Film Award at the Montréal Festival of New Cinema 2006.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Chang, Justin (May 28, 2006). "Day Night Day Night". Variety. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  2. ^ "Day Night Day Night (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  3. ^ "Day Night Day Night Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  4. ^ "Review: Day Night Day Night". Slant Magazine. Slant Magazine LLC. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  5. ^ "Learning to Emphasize with a Suicide Bomber". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  6. ^ "Ty's Picks for Friday May 18". Movie Nation. The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  7. ^ "Film follows a suicide bomber, and every detail has meaning". The Boston Globe. The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  8. ^ Diduck, Ryan (November 30, 2006). "Good Day and Good Night: A Conversation with Filmmaker Julia Loktev". Offscreen. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  9. ^ "2006 Woodstock Film Festival Maverick Awards". woodstockfilmfestival.org. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  10. ^ "Montréal Festival of New Cinema2 2006". imdb.com. Retrieved 2023-01-08.

External links[edit]