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Day Night Day Night
Metascore
61 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
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  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    100
    Astonishing.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    90
    Terror is existential in this highly intelligent, somewhat sadistic, totally fascinating movie.
  3. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    The film is, in fact, a cunning exercise in subjectivity and withheld information--and once you accept those parameters, it's riveting.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    Offers a chillingly effective look at the ease with which a suicide bomber could wreak havoc on U.S. soil - specifically in Times Square.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    Why has She chosen to end her young life with a senseless act of mass murder? We never find out - which is a good thing. Too much information would only get in the way and lessen this compelling film's evocation of dread.
  6. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    63
    In the end, despite Williams' extraordinary, nearly wordless performance, it's impossible to fathom what this young woman is experiencing at her moment of crisis, because we never knew what could have brought her to such a desperate pass in the first place.
  7. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Howie Movshovitz
    60
    Shows tremendous control and discipline, especially for a young filmmaker on her first feature. Director Julia Loktev might be working on a profoundly low budget, but her camera work and lighting are precise and imaginative.
  8. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    60
    Context and psychological insight are the major casualties of Day Night Day Night, a dramatically limited but strangely powerful portrait of a young would-be terrorist.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    50
    The most profound thing the remarkably dread-filled drama Day Night Day Night tells us is what it doesn't tell us.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    Maddeningly, purposefully evasive.
  11. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Richard M. Porton
    50
    Unlike the Dardennes or the best practitioners of political cinema, Loktev possesses almost zero political acumen, and her film ends up resembling nothing more than a well-calibrated performance piece, as vacuous as its confused protagonist.
  12. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    50
    Loktev's efforts to universalize this story by avoiding specifics ends up making Day Night Day Night broad and blank, reducing the lead character to one more generic nutcase for us to fear and pity.
  13. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    42
    A stunt masquerading as a statement.
  14. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    40
    The movie charts a journey from belief to despair with occasional touches of humor, but by the end I was so deadened by its minimalist style and method, I could barely summon the energy to ask why.
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User Reviews

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User Score
5.4 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. LindaL.
    3
    The comparison with "Blair Witch Project" is inspired! All our Islamic (?) heroine needed was a runny nose. We don't know anything about the young woman who's the lead, except that she feels she's making a worthy sacrifice so her life/death will mean something. But despite her exquisitely expressive face, we're denied any sort of dramatic payoff, and are left feeling as dejected as she.… Full Review »
  2. SteveS.
    5
    Deliberately blank motivation and minimalist production, with seemingly half the picture in closeups of the star, work better as an abstract notion than in the result on screen. Dramatically, the end product is a do-it-yourself chore for the audience, more interesting as an experiment than as an artwork - sort of "The Blair Witch Project" of terrorist movies. If you want to see the same topic treated much more viscerally on a similarly low level of resources, rent "Cavite." That's genuinely horrifying.… Full Review »
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