The document summarizes two films shown at the Montreal Film Festival: 1) "Day Night Day Night" follows a young woman over her last day as she prepares to become a suicide bomber in New York City's Times Square. The film focuses on her mundane daily activities to show how an ordinary person could become a bomber. 2) "Invisible Waves" is a thriller about an assassin and chef who takes his boss's widowed husband on a boat trip where he reveals details about a plot. But the resolution and motives are unclear, leaving the audience confused. Both films highlight the festival's presentation of independent and experimental films.

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