Monday, January 19, 2015

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour. Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh. 99 min. Unrated. Horror.

Iranian vampire Western. It's tough to imagine these three words in the same sentence - let alone to describe a movie. And add to the mix the mood of the sex-and-violence-filled black-and-white B-movies of the Shah's time, and you're surprised to even get a coherent story (which this film actually has). If a young American-raised Iranian film-maker, heavily inspired by David Lynch (and to a lesser extent Tarantino), was to picture how she sees her delusional past generation, her hypocritical religious upbringing, and her vision of her own generation's doomed future ... this is exactly the movie she would make.

PS: 95% on the Tomatometer. Your call.

Mo says:

2 comments:

  1. I understand the accents, but conversations somehow look like Afghan persian!
    Anyway, I didn't like the movie. Incoherent story and undeveloped characters. Horror movie? Uncategorizable.

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    Replies
    1. Dear Afshin,

      I never thought this would be your cup of tea anyway. Independent films have some severe restrictions in terms of budgeting, casting, special effects, ... - hence, the very dimly-lit interiors and exteriors (which hide set inconsistencies), and actor accent problems. I tend to forgive these problems when I see such a valiant effort to create something new.

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