Director(s): Julia Loktev. Screenplay: Julia Loktev. Cast: Luisa Williams, Josh P. Weinstein, Gareth Saxe, Nyambi Nyambi, Frank Dattolo, Annemarie Lawless, Tschi-hun Kim, Richard Morant, Jennifer Camilo, Rosemary Apolinaris, Jennifer Restrepo and Julissa Perez. Distributor: IFC Films. Runtime: 94 min. Rating: NR.
An official selection at this past New Directors/New Films, Day Night Day Night, directed by NYU grad Julia Loktev, follows a young beautiful woman as she prepares for a suicide bombing in Times Square. Her name is never specified: in the credits, she is known as "She" (Luisa Williams). The first half of Loktev's film follows her in preparation: she waits for her handlers, takes a long bath, brushes her teeth twice, eats Ramen noodles, memorizes back up addresses in case anything goes wrong, and finally, she gets the bomb, seemingly loaded in a yellow back pack. Loktev neither studies anything nor acquaints us with characters: it's all experimental. Not only does this blatantly bring the film down to a superfluous level of ennui, it gives the viewer nothing to work with. Loktev's camera is also a bit of a fiasco, as she essentially just picks up the camera and shoots; this said, the film is sans any aesthetics, and this is critical. But more than anything, Loktev has taken a keen and brightly thought out idea -- especially how the viewer never finds out who, where or what She is from - and left is desperately grasping at straws.
Although Luisa Williams plays her part well, she has nothing more to work with but herself. It is, indeed, a hard role, particularly because the film is, most of the part, with out any dialogue. But as the second half of the film progresses -- as She prepares to bomb Times Square -- one can't help but ruminate: why do we need this?
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