Day Night Day Night

As I sit in my Brooklyn residence, nothing would please me more than to sum up this film in stereotypical Brooklynese with a Bensonhurst dialect.  “Fuggedaboudit   it.  This piece of garbage isn’t a friggin’ film.”   What a clever title too.

Of course, the defenders of such trash, those in the art community, the self absorbed, smarter than thee, pretentious that congregate in places such as Williamsburg, Brooklyn will no doubt unload a spiel about how one must look past the images and understand by walking in her shoes and that film is simply a vehicle to take us to a place that we all may have felt long ago or when our hearts weighed heavy and drowned in fears.  Spew out this mumbo jumbo nonsense.

Having seen this youtube video over a year ago the rancid aftertaste still lingers.  Not pertaining to art such as Campbell’s Soup Cans by Warhol or when disturbing images in film steal moments from our serene living.  No, here I was served a dish of feces and I am revolted.

Questions arise as to how this film school project with no merit whatsoever was on television and the schlock writer-director was awarded the Someone To Watch Award from the fine folks at the Independent Spirit Awards.  Thoughts of how the Hawaiian Tropic contestants influence judges comes to my head but I am not at all suggesting such viceful tactics were used here.  No way, no slander here. I believe that the award was given as a warning of avoidance when the recipient’s name is seen as in, Someone To Watch Out For.

Here is the gist of this film festival reject.  Some girl puts on a backpack and is going to be a suicide bomber in Times Square.

Without any knowledge as to who she is and why she does this is supposed to provide an air of mystique.  There is no intrigue.  This girl is fitted for a backpack and pranced around in front of a group of people that are part of this “terror” group.  This scene is ridiculous and was only missing the deranged overly emotional designing misfits from some A&E fashion designers show.

Amid this new century of terror and George Bush’s war, threats and terror are hot movie topics.  So, this writer director hack Julia Loktev took no time to research and delve into the mindset and motives behind suicide bombers at home and abroad.  Uh, Ms. Loktev, strong characters make strong films or at least support a structurally unsound premise.

Here is a suggestion for research into the subject.  Watch films that explore why bullied kids in schools make minced meat out of classmates or the documentary about a girl in Palestine that had her entire family wiped out by an oppressive genocidal government straps on a bomb pack.  Agree or disagree, it evokes emotion.  The viewer is engaged.  Not the crap that is Day Night Day Night.

Everything is terrible.  The camera work is terrible.  The lightweight digital prosumer camera should have been mounted on a pair of sticks and a steadycam should have been employed.  Benoît Debie was the “cinematographer” in this handheld marvel also shot Irréversible starring Monica Bellucci.

At the end of this root canal, the bomb does not explode and this girl sits on the street.  Not soon enough, the credits roll.  No big boom in Times Square.  Oh, thank heavens for miracles.  Does anyone out there feel for this girl and the crown of thorns she must wear?  Boo Hoo.