A Girl Walks Home at Night

  

 

A Girl Walks Home at Night

2014

Director- Ana Lily Amirpour

Cast- Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains, Mozhan Marnò, Rome Shadanloo, Reza Sixo Safai, Masuka

            The film follows a cast of characters, mostly at night, on the streets of Bad City, a fictional Iranian town (the movie was actually filmed in America, however).

 Arash is a hard working young man trying to get ahead though his father’s drug addiction keeps getting in the way of that. The Girl is a vampire who prowls the streets at night interacting with, and sometimes preying on Bad City’s denizens. Other characters are an unscrupulous drug dealer-pimp, a lonely prostitute, and a perpetually unsupervised child.

The plot is really not that important as the film is more of a grim character study. Bad City is a type of vampire itself as it sucks the life and dreams out of its characters. Some of the characters are victims, others are parasites, again furthering the vampiric theme.

Its shot in black and white and has a definite noir feel. The music alternates between pop and spaghetti western which, while jarring, is effective. Often I was reminded of some of the experimental indie movies of the late 80s and early 90s.

The movie was lauded as a feminist horror film and it’s easy to see why, given its themes and the fact that it has a female lead directed by a woman. I don’t know if there is any central message other than awareness of the abusive, predatory nature of modern life. The drug dealer preys on Arash, his father and the prostitute. Arash preys on someone else when he steals from them and of course The Girl herself is a predator.

The Girl (again a nod to the spaghetti western as she has no name) is an instant classic character. Aesthetically she looks like a sort of grim reaper with her black hijab and black cape, floating down the streets on her skateboard.

Though the film is pretty grim, in the center of this is a very sweet love story between Arash and The Girl. Its not a hot blooded passionate romance but the solace of two outsiders finding unconditional acceptance.