MUNDANE TO MORBID: Director Julia Loktev arrives

at the UK Premiere of "Day Night Day Night" during

The Times BFI 50th London Film Festival on October

26, 2006. Her film follows the mundane activities of a

young girl who is persuaded to become a suicide

bomber. (MJ Kim/Getty Images)

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Stories Silly and Serious: Montreal Film Festival,

Part 3

Film Reviews from the Montreal Festival of New Cinema

By Frederic Eger

Special to The Epoch TimesNov 05, 2006

[ Editor's Note :] According to its publicity

material, the Montreal Festival of New Cinema

held in October each year presents a distinctly

avant-garde focus. Viewers will watch film and

video, installations, websites and performances

with special emphasis on digital work. The

festival has four main sections�Feature LengthFilm and Video, Short and Medium Length Film

and Video, New Media, and Digital Cinema.

Reviewer Frederic Eger has selected his top

picks to critique.

Day Night Day Night

No one knows what made her a suicide bomber.

She could be any North-American Muslim or

non-Muslim even. With cute blue eyes, she

wears neither a hidjab nor speaks with an

accent. But Day Night Day Night takes us

through each step as this average nineteen-

year-old girl prepares to explode herself in New

York's Times Square.

The film focuses on the small, banal details of a

young woman who decides to "usefully" use her

body for a cause.

Inspired in part by a story in a Russian

newspaper, director Julia Loktev says she

wanted to highlight meaningless actions such as

buying a banana or eating a candy apple before

committing one of the most terrifying acts of

all: killing oneselves.

Ms. Loktev tried to understand what could

motivate a suicide bomber to commit such act.

Day Night Day Night sends a subtle message

that a suicide bomber doesn't necessarily "look"

Muslim. The film follows the young woman

during what appears to be her last night in a

hotel room, followed by her hesitation to bomb

herself in New York.

Luisa Williams is incredibly natural as the suicide bomber. Ms. Loktev brings us to the conclusion that an

ordinary person who has not been brainwashed with fundamentalism will find it very difficult to blow

themselves up in the middle of the Big Apple.

Though the topic and script might look engaging, the character is so intentionally undefined that the

viewer may find it hard to connect or feel concerned by what's happening. This film lectures us on what

we should think or what prejudices we should not have about suicide bombers. I'll let the viewer decide.

Day Night Day NightWritten & Directed by Julia Loktev

With Luisa Williams (She), Josh Phillip Weinstein (Commander), Gareth Saxe (Organizer), Nyambi Nyambi

(Organizer), Tschi Hun Kim (Driver), Annemarie Lawless (Bombmaker's Assistant), Frank Dattolo

(Bombmaker)

Runtime: 94 min

******

Invisible Waves

This Thai/Dutch/South Korean/Hong Kong collaboration opens with assassin-cum-chef Kyoji (Asano

Tadanobu) holding a man at gunpoint. Seiko (Tomono Kuga), the Japanese wife of Kyoji's boss, arrives at

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The Epoch Times | Stories Silly and Serious: Montreal Film Festival, Part 3 http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-11-5/47746.html

1 of 2 2/28/2015 9:08 PM

Kyoji's apartment to continue their steamy affair. Instead, Kyoji poisons her. The next day, newly-

widowed Wiwat (Toon Hiranyasup) closes his Hong Kong restaurant where Kyoji has his day job.

Kyoji then sails Wiwatt to Phuket, Thailand. The boat trip is a sarcastic and philosophical meditation on

the never-ending wheel of Samsara. Some logistical situations in the cabinroom lighten the heavy

atmosphere and get us through the slow moments.

Screenwriter Prabda Yoon cleverly reveals plot in bits here and there. But the plot resolution where Kyoji

commits suicide after surviving an assasination attempt turn the film into one big private joke that the

audience is not in on. The the fresh casting of Gang Hye Jung makes some sense of the revenge motive.

According to some sources, she was important to secure distribution in Korea. Music by Hualampong

Riddim unifies the film. Cinematographically, this film is interesting but not enough to balance

weaknesses in the plot. The story is so predictable that if you don't share the same sense of dark humor

you most assuredly will be extremely bored�as I was.Invisible Waves

Directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

With Asano Tadanobu (Kyoji), Gang Hye Jung (Noi), Eric Tsang (Monk), Maria Cordero (Maria), Toon

Hiranyasup (Wiwat), Ken Mitsuishi (Lizard), Tomono Kuga (Seiko)

Runtime: 118 min.

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