After the Day Before (2004)

When you like Mulholland Dr. or 2001:Space Odyssey, then this movie is for you. When you like U.S. trash comedies don't watch it. Yes, it is a movie hard to watch. Even the critics have told that this movie is too complicated, but I'm sure that Attila Janich had a purpose to create it that way. I've heard that to truly understand the movie you have to detect very little details. I couldn't detect them myself, but this was not a problem. When the film ends, then you'll see, that the whole is what makes it masterpiece- cinematography, editing and the music. So if you are home alone and you have the Masnap DVD, don't hesitate, just watch it.

Strange and mixed responses. At no point in this film did I feel dislocated from the plot, even the time-line was within a somewhat tenuous reach but at all times I was certain where and how this story would conclude. I may have had an unfair advantage in reading a novel called 'the Voyeur' by Alain Robbe- Grillet, it won the Prix Des Critiques (the novel not the film). It came as a surprise to see no mention at all of this book in relation to the film, some changes in the story have been made, but certainly not enough to completely liberate it from what was obviously the inspiration. I can only imagine with much remorse at having some knowledge of the story how intriguing a movie this would be for a virgin audience.I won't spoil the film nor the book by trying to explain the plot, but more to the point just say that this is one hell of an interpretation. Excellent even.

I saw this film at the Seattle International Film Festival. The director was in attendance and provided much insight on the deeper themes of the film. It is based on a true story.He said he tried to make it like real life, as you are going along the little fragments or events may not seem very important, but when you get to the end and look back then you see their impact. He also said that the landscape was the most important character in the film. The film was divided into chapters; The Sky, The Dust, The Wind and The Road. To me these reflected the elements of the painting that the camera repeatedly lingered on during the film. Yes, it is depressing. But I think there is more. This film is about evil and the way it grows. The nameless man starts off as an innocent bystander. Picking up bits and pieces of the characters conversations he starts to form an opinion about a girl he has never met. In the scene where he inspects her room, you can almost see the hatred growing within him. Hatred for some vile woman who only exists in his head. By the end it completely consumes him and he stalks her through the grass (in a hauntingly beautiful overhead shot), then rapes and kills her.The director said it's about sin. It is about social responsibility. Was it partly the villager's fault that this man killed the girl? So often we think our words have no effect, it is only a little comment, I am not going out and murdering anyone, but these can have bigger consequences than we may think.

In short avoid this film.Before watching this film the director told the audience that it may not make sense as we watched it (as time is not sequential and the lead character has memory problems) but by the final scene it would all reveal itself to us.*** Slight Spolier but very important ***He lied. The direction and the changing time points without of knowledge kept us interested and we needed to know how it all knits together but the ending was so weak with no explanation of why the character(s) were motivated to do it. Very disappointed.