Her cell phone rings, barking muddled directions. Alone in a hotel room, the 19-year-old girl complies with her orders to tie a blindfold around her head and affix cuffs to her wrist.
She must do everything just right if she's to fulfill her destiny as a holy martyr, striking fear in the heart of the Great Satan by blowing herself up along with an unsuspecting crowd in Times Square. It's what God wants.
An immediate, documentary-style drama about a suicide bomber in the 48 hours leading up to her attack, "Day Night Day Night" works better as a chilling conversation piece than engaging drama.
The unnamed protagonist — actually, antagonist would be more appropriate — is played by Luisa Williams with frigid forced roboticism that occasionally gives way to torrents of self-doubt. We're thrown into the girl's plight with no context and are forced to piece together clues of her whereabouts, age, family situation and motivation.
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Director Julia Loktev follows the path paved by other recent films "Paradise Now" and "The War Within" to enter the mind of the bogeyman. Loktev is striving for realism in all its starkness and mundanity and is a tad too successful for the good of the film.
Many sequences feature the girl just sitting around doing nothing. Her handlers step in at intervals to test her loyalty, drilling her on her alias and plan of attack. They outfit her in clothes that make her look like a college student, with a backpack full of explosives triggered by a detonator that resembles a remote control for her headphones.
In striving to nail down every excruciating detail of how an attack might take place, Loktev squanders forward momentum. "Day Night Day Night" might have generated more of a spark as a short film.
Most of the time, the girl is left alone to ponder her plight. Occasionally, the movie becomes captivating, such as when she's at a crosswalk in Times Square. She fingers the detonator, jaw clenched, lips quivering. And then . . . nothing. As a viewer, you feel as stuck in limbo as this lost girl.
Day Night Day Night
**1/2
• Rated: Not rated.
• Cast: Luisa Williams, Josh Phillip Weinstein, Gareth Saxe, Nyambi Nyambi.
• Director: Julia Loktev.
• Family call: Seems to be intended for teenagers and up.
• Running time: 94 minutes.
