Manfred Körfer:
“The film is beautiful, poetic, enchanting in the real sense of the word, or better: enchanting. The renouncement of dialogue and customary 'action' gave every viewer the opportunity to dive into it in their very own way; for me it was a meditation on my own childhood. I found myself in many pictures and situations, it was like the appearance of long-forgotten childhood memories while half asleep. "
Westdeutsche Zeitung:
“Mathias Allary, sponsorship award winner from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, showed his three-quarters of an hour film 'A day like a year' in the black box. He goes on a walk into the world of two children, understood as an alternative to the impoverishment of the adult senses. In an uninhibited way; Julia and Torsten, eager to be distracted, stray through the inner and outer world on their way to school, with the director creating the conditions for their unfiltered abundance of perception.
Without a precise plot, the study follows an open narrative, partly documentary in character. It leaves space for the viewer's memories and associations as well as for the idiosyncratic head of the main actor. There is no need for language: pictures, background noise and music are sufficient. The child's world does not need dialogue, even if the hello call sends out a signal at the end. A subjective and an objective camera accompanies the two, taking the children's perspective. The seasons change: an autumn bath of leaves turns into a snowball fight. Dream passages are broken down into the child's perception. A pocket lighter turns the thought into a fire eater, a puddle to the beach and sea. In the fairy tale motif of the forest, the child's loneliness, his fear and the basic experience of loss can be heard. The convincing power of the film lies in its restraint, it does not obey any necessities or constraints and thus depicts something irretrievable: the lost paradise. "
Neue Rheinzeitung:
"A day like a year" describes in a wordless, very careful and tender way how two schoolchildren dawdle into a dream world. "