A lot of fun.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

A young woman is seen arriving at a bus station. Before she gets off the bus she might be giving us a clue as to the purpose of her trip. At the depot, she is met by a man that takes her to what appears to be a suburban motel. She has come for the sole purpose of being trained for a mission to sacrifice herself in a terrorist act. The woman takes a bath, scrubbing herself clean, as though preparing for the sacrifice she is about to commit Masked men enter the room. Blindfolding her, they take her through a training different in a lot of possible scenarios. She is given a new identity and has to learn it by rote. When she is deemed ready, she is taken to a desolate area where a car awaits her to take her to another bus depot. Her destination, we learn at last, is Times Square, the heart of New York City.Leah Cruz, the would be terrorist, embarks on a walk throughout the area. The usual crowds are a reminder of what she is about to do. She is constantly surrounded by a mass of people that are oblivious to the danger so near to them. After trying the explosive device, she realizes it's not working properly, something she, or the team that prepared the explosion, probably didn't count on. As the story ends, we watch her being pursued by a young man, who might be a predator looking for easy an easy mark.Suicide bombers are a recent development in the world. They have been responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people that didn't deserve to die, in the first place. It is hard to understand how a human being will get to that stage. Not only will they kill a lot of bystanders, but in the process they don't live to see the havoc they create."Day Night, Day Night" is the creation of Julia Loktev, a director unknown to this viewer. Not knowing what to expect, we took a chance with this indie film from IFC, a producer of quirky fare. Ms. Loktev takes the viewer into the mind of a person that is determined to carry out a horrible act. We never get to know Leah's background, or what is the cause for which she is fighting. We never learn what has been her reason for getting involved in such a criminal act. When she calls her parents, they sound as though they are concerned about her, but not much more than what a parent of a young person would be.Louisa Williams has the kind of face that could pass for any ethnicity, it is difficult to peg her down to any specific race group. Her eyes tell the story of the conflict within her. Walking among the crowds of Times Square, Ms. Williams appears at times as though she is overwhelmed by the garishness of her surroundings, while at other times, she appears to be afraid of dying for a cause that even she can't comprehend.The excellent hand held camera of cinematographer Benoit Debie, captures the Times Square area as through the eyes of a tourist, or even a would be killer. Ms. Loktev shows she can provoke her audience, however disgusting the central issue is.

I just saw "Day Night Day Night" on cable for the first time; it was almost mundane but fascinating; it would've been even better if I hadn't read the online guide, that she was a terrorist recruit, and let it come as a shock. I only missed about 2 minutes of video making a sandwich.Through the whole movie, I was waiting for her (She?) to realize that people are worth saving everywhere, even New York City, and that she should save her own young, perky life. I was praying she'd disarm the bomb, abandon it in a bus locker, and get a new life, or go home. Or date that black guy. Am I shallow?As an atheist, I did not appreciate the ending -- it wasn't satisfying, it didn't resolve anything, or demonstrate any truth for me. Also not a Disney-enough ending for me...I _was_ impressed by the politeness of the masked guys, and the way they made her wear her seat belt. Also, more nudity would've helped! Oink! Too borderline-meaningful!

When Hannah Arendt coined the expression "the banality of evil," surely she must have had something like "Day Night Day Night" in mind. With chilling detachment, this brilliant and terrifying film chronicles the last 48 hours in the life of a potential suicide bomber. It is a topic rife with all sorts of potential pitfalls, both political and cinematic, yet the movie succeeds as a work of art because it never resorts to sensationalism or exploitation to get its point across.Filmmaker Julia Loktey has deliberately eliminated any back story that might explain why a beautiful young girl like "Leah" would be willing to perform an action as inconceivable and incomprehensible as the one she has planned here. The whys and the wherefores are really of little concern to Loktey. Instead, she has chosen to concentrate on the almost strikingly banal, step-by-step process "Leah" must go through to complete the deed. Indeed, it's amazing how, through context alone, even the most mundane of actions - brushing one's teeth, taking a bath, clipping one's toenails - can suddenly become imbued with the most terrifying significance and sense of foreboding. It's almost as if "Leah" is trying to hold onto a sense of normalcy for as long as she can, savoring the minor pleasures of life that she knows she will never experience again. In fact, in the stunning final half hour of the film, as "Leah" roams around the streets of New York City trying to summon up the courage to fulfill her mission, she begins to cling more and more to the simple joys of life - a mustard-covered pretzel, a candy apple - before taking that final plunge into the abyss. What's particularly disturbing is how unfailingly sweet and polite "Leah" is to the people around her - be they the common pedestrians or storekeepers who could easily become her victims, or the masked men who calmly, almost apologetically, feed her instructions on what she is to do when the fateful moment arrives. The scene in which they dress "Leah" up in terrorist garb and methodically "direct" her for a video that will be released after her death is one of the most chilling in the entire film.Luisa Williams, who is never off camera for a single moment in the film, delivers an astonishing tour-de-force performance that is guaranteed to leave the audience stunned into silence. With very little in the way of dialogue to work with, Williams is forced to rely almost exclusively on facial expression and body language to convey a wealth of emotion. The incongruity between the character's sweet personality and demeanor and the horrific act of violence she is about to commit throws us completely off balance and makes us call into question our own perception of the world and the way it works.Loktey employs documentary-style realism to tell her story, using her camera to record, almost as a dispassionate observer, the events as they unfold in the course of that 48-hour period."Day Night Day Night" contains more nerve-wracking suspense than a boatload of standard thrillers, yet it is a suspense that is honestly earned, for Loktey never stoops to implausible timing or hokey contrivance to create her effect. This is the stuff of real life - with all its attendant unpredictability and ironies - unfolding before us. We are forever focused on this young lady, who remains a fascinating and terrifying enigma throughout the entire hour-and-a-half that we spend with her.Stated simply, "Day Night Day Night" is one of the most riveting and important releases of 2007.

I think the so-called suicide bombers and the whole culture that creates and nurtures them (seen most notably in Palestine) are so despicable and so low-life, that any attempt to rationalize, understand, "feel their pain" deserves no respect. Any human being who is willing to take lives of innocent civilians, no matter what his/her motivation, should be treated the same way as harmful bacteria that must be eradicated.This film shows the suicide bomber as a human being worthy of sympathy. She is soft-spoken, polite, capable of human emotion, certainly not evil on personal level. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her, when she could not execute her task???Supporting characters in the movie, except the black guy in the ending, look ridiculous and very unprofessional.