Kill the Day

Dir: Lynne Ramsay

1996

****

Kill the Day, Lynne Ramsay’s second short film of 1996, is a gritty and striking film that explores the workings of human memory, told through a day in the life of a heroin addict out on release after serving time in prison. The visuals are in the same vein as Small Deaths but the audio is the opposite. From the beginning, all we hear is the droning noise of a fly, there is no soundtrack or much dialogue, just harsh and uncomfortable noise. The film is made to cause a reaction, it’s not necessarily meant to be a pleasurable experience either – it’s delivering a message. Made primarily to show Ramsay’s range as a director, Kill the Day still delivers an important and relevant social story. Slicing between the past and present day, the film is a stark exploration of someone struggling to regain control following addiction and incarceration. The conclusion is eerily ominous, suggesting that the road to recovery is as complicated as it is arduous. I adore Lynne Ramsay's unique direction, no other director can portray hot and cold as well as she can and I think that’s because she has both the brilliant visual talent of a photographer and she knows people. Her stories explore her surroundings and her upbringing, she clearly got into film making because she can see magic in her observations – no matter how stark they may be. Kill the Day and her other short of 1996, Small Deaths, are obvious influences on her debut feature Ratcatcher released three years later in 1999 and although her films made after that are all written by others, there is always a big part of her in each of her works.