Critics' Corner
"The film has a magical look... Quite an achievement!"
"Crisply shot, the film has a gritty quality that captures the struggling underside of L.A. In some ways it is Director Sumin’s hymn to Los Angeles.”
"Stunning visuals! . . ."
"Camilla Bergstrom as Linda is a real find. She has a haunted, enigmatic appeal that lights up the screen."
"Philippe Bergeron, who plays ‘Gary’, almost steals every scene in which he appears. He has a particular talent for mugging at the camera that is both poignant and hilarious." "Well written, the ending will surprise you... it is definitely not what I expected."
Shades of Day was included by Gerald Pirog, professor of Rutgers University, New Jersey in his "course about cinema" along with works by Bernardo Bertolucci, Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Akira Kurasawa....
Read what the Rutgers Professor
and the students say
Read what the Rutgers Professor and the students say:
"I personally like the movie..."
Professor Gerald Pirog
"Vitaly Sumin had created a film that, at the same time is both realistic and somewhat dream-like. Even though movies such as the Shades of Day are not meant to be taken as reality by a viewer, I thought that this particular movie tended to have more realistic views of life and love than did the others on Dostoevsky's White Nights… Sumin made it seem that Linda is lost, she wants something, a man, but she doesn't know who. That is why she falls in love so easily with so many. Do they offer her something she can't find in one? Or is it that she can't or doesn't want to be without any of them by choosing the wrong one?..."
Maria Klushina
Sumin's "Shades of Day" is a very original and modern adaptation of Dostoevsky's White Nights. While the film was dramatically modernizing Dostoevsky's text, it kept to the major ideas of it… At times it kept to the original text but at other times it was completely different. Overall I found it enjoyable and interesting, both the plot and acting.
Raven Hilton
The relationships in this version are very sexual in nature, and I think Sumin is trying to demonstrate the confusion of emotions that people experience, along with the perplexity of reconciling love with sex. I enjoyed this film and appreciated the unique take on Dostoevsky's original work.
Paul C. Hubbard
