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DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT
Written & Directed by: Julia Loktev.
Produced by: Loktev, Melanie Judd & Jessica Levin.
Director of Photography: Benoit Debie.
Edited by: Michael Taylor & Loktev.
Released by: IFC First Take.
Country of Origin: USA/Germany/France. 94 min. Not Rated.
With: Luisa Williams.

Director Julia Loktev’s camera scrutinizes her anonymous suicide bomber-in-training, so much so that at one point actress Luisa Williams’ breath slightly fogs the lens.

On the bus to, presumably, New Jersey, the young woman intones a prayer to herself, “I want my death for you.” Other than this hint of religious fervor, Loktev keeps politics out of her scenario. The viewer witnesses the conservatively dressed woman getting ready for her obligatory martyr video, but has no idea what she manifests. The director focuses on, instead, the bomber’s psychology while she’s sequestered in a hotel receiving methodical instructions and, afterwards, on her mission. (With the curtains drawn, the time of day loses meaning.)

While the pony-tailed, light-skinned woman of color speaks so softly with a high-pitched, wispy voice that she’s barely audible, the same can’t be said for everything else. The mike excruciatingly captures every sound. In one overly long take, she eats a cold egg roll, staring blankly into space. (“Munch, munch, crunch.”)

Throughout, she obediently does as she is told by her handlers, never failing to apologize for a misstep or to say thank-you for any sign of approval or kindness. The often washed-out cinematography visually resembles that of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane, with its handheld camera that also closely follows its troubled protagonist through New York City’s Port Authority. But unlike that film, the audience learns everything Loktev is willing to reveal about her central character within the first 20 of her 94-minute film.

However, the tempo radically changes when the bomber hits the streets of Times Square carrying a backpack with 50 pounds of explosives, searching for a target. Realistically, the film also captures her frustrating search for a working bathroom and pay phone. (Just like Midnight Cowboy, also filmed in New York, Day Night Day Night will surely be a time capsule.) Given the premise, Lotkev’s debut feature cannot fail to be suspenseful. But when the woman is among the hustle and bustle of the crowd, her psychological state becomes more than apparent. With dark circles under her bulging eyes, she remains frozen, gazing vacantly at a crosswalk or running haphazardly into pedestrians – she’s a walking time bomb. (Let’s hope the public and authorities would be more observant than they are here.) In the final minutes, Loktev offers a perceptive spin on fundamentalism, though hardly an epiphany, but it just takes a long time to get there. Kent Turner
May 9, 2007