The Darkness of Day is a haunting meditation on suicide. It is comprised entirely of found 16mm footage that had been discarded. The sadness, the isolation, and the desire to escape are recorded on film in various contexts. Voice-over readings from the journal kept by a brother of the filmmaker's friend who committed suicide in 1990 intermix with a range of compelling stories, from the poignant double suicide of an elderly American couple to a Japanese teenager who jumped into a volcano, spawning over a thousand imitations. While this is a serious exploration of a cultural taboo, its lyrical qualities invite the viewer to approach the subject with understanding and compassion.
Absolutely beautiful, most especially if you yourself have lived in those very dark places and the thought of enduring one more day seems too much to bear.
Très beau petit film. Bien fait.
In The Darkness of the Day, I tried to tackle the difficult subject of suicide in the most artistic way I knew how so that hopefully the viewer stays engaged by the technique as well as the subject matter.