Daylight (2010) User Reviews

Flawless filmmaking

[Parparparpar · 9/10 · 3 December 2011]

This is a little gem of filmmaking. The camera work is flawless, the music is great and the acting is surprisingly good. The film has a soul and I do not see it often in that genre. What makes Daylight very entertaining is that it's not predictable like most other similar flicks. The suspense builds slowly and the end while not the one I had wished is original. My only wish would have been to know more about the husband and his ordeals. His character is also interesting and could have been more developed. I find the film slightly too short but yet again shorter is always better than too long. The film is really about the experience of the lead female character and her captors. Ultimately the story is a sincere exploration about the meaning of life, of giving life, of killing and ultimately the meaning of our belief in oneself and maybe also the belief in God.

Another Terrific Indie Film...

[catsklgd1 · 8/10 · 9 June 2012]

This is a very good film, a bit short, but nevertheless satisfying. What captured my attention was the edgy performances of the two actors who played Leo and Renny. Their work was comparable in quality to that of Robert Blake's in In Cold Blood. The script and direction by writer/director David Barker was also top notch. As an author of murder mysteries (the Matt Davis Mystery Series), I was particularly impressed with the dialog, and the attention to detail it entailed. The one disappointment for me was the ending, which I thought neglected to tie up the loose ends created by the kidnapping of the husband. But, all in all, this was a quality film that deserved more attention that it apparently received. If you've got an hour and twenty minutes to kill, you could do a lot worse than spending it watching Daylight.

Beautiful, Heartbreaking, Genre-Bending Film

[anatomyoffear · 9/10 · 3 March 2023]

This film. This gorgeous, heartbreaking film.

What begins as a seemingly straightforward abduction story of a husband and pregnant wife takes on an almost Bressonian level of spirituality in its exploration of the corruptiveness of violence and a true probing of whether people can genuinely repent and change.

All of the leads are fantastic, with the pregnant wife a standout of quiet dignity under extreme circumstances. Like Bresson's characters Mouchette or Balthazar the donkey, this woman is strengthened by the fire of her situation.

The abductors begin as threatening shapes, stand-ins for an expected trope, but then we slowly see behind their facades. They are driven by deeply broken impulses, and in the end, everyone's fate is intertwined with Shakespearean levels of tragedy.

Stunningly rendered, this movie is the closest we'll see to a horror thriller directed by Terence Malick.