CinemaFunk: Daylight

'Independent' is a word that is thrown around so loosely in film criticism, and the 90s independent film boom did not help the matter. Every so often there is a low-budget independent film that truly is a grass-roots accomplishment. Daylight is just one of those accomplishments, but the film also successfully attempts to re-define the thriller genre while exhibiting strange and ambiguous tones for atmosphere.

Daniel (Aidan Redmond) and his pregnant wife Irene (Alexandra Meierhans) are lost while driving around the American countryside in a Maserati. Irene nudges Daniel to pick up Remmy, a hitchhiker who is willing to help them get back to the highway for a ride. One the way, the hitchhiker asks for Daniel to pick up a friend who is also hitchhiking just a few miles up. Daniel refuses, until Remmy places a knife up to Irene's throat.

Daniel, at the behest of his pregnant wife, makes a risky move picking up a hitchhiker. Then again, the couple is not exactly wearing seat belts in their F1 transmission featured Maserati either. The two have been living a sweet, privileged life. Married, child on the way. Apparently well-off. Brief flashbacks reveals that life before this tragic day was also rather uneventful. The marriage was teetering on uncertainty, just as much as it is when they are captured.

Daylight walks down a thin line between direct-to-video quality and genius. The film is beautifully shot but features an unnerving pace thanks to the uncertainty of Irene and her child. The excessively short sequence of flashbacks is an effective pocket of information that allows Irene to have a better grasp on her captive situation. She has been praying for something to change in her life, which appeared to be boring and uneventful prior to the film's setting. Despite the captive situation, Irene has found the light in her own life; she is the one that says it best: "When something dies, something else is reborn." Irene is able to call upon something that allows one of her captors to sympathize with her; it is Stockholm Syndrome in reverse.

Daylight has a very ambiguous ending that teeters between satisfying and mystical. The payoff is provided, but at what cost? Seriously, what was the cost? The film's denouement shows us a series of ethereal images but never reveals the fates of other characters. This is certainly no flaw. It is a deliberate attempt to guide the spectator back to the central conflict for the pregnant Irene.

The film is both short and highly effective. It is far, far from perfection, but even better, its further from the formulaic and conventional. The film starts feeling more like a dark British romance than that of a thriller. But director David Barker is able to keep the spectator on their toes the tropes of thrillers are being recycled rather than abused. As the title suggests, the action occurs in daylight. Most violence in film occurs at night, supposedly under the cover of darkness. Daylight places its action in the middle of the day, granted, they are located in an isolated location. The unpredictable nature of the film will deter many spectators, but is a welcomed experiment that accomplishes what it set out to do.

This review was originally published at CinemaFunk.