Cult Movies (#2)

Unless you--like me--have a predilection for overlooked and unsung movies, you have probably never heard of Ana Lily Amirpour's atmospheric 2014 Spaghetti Western/Vampire hybrid, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Set in an Iranian backwater called Bad City, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night has that same lonely, downtrodden feel that Peter Bogdanovich so successfully captured in his 1971 masterpiece, The Last Picture Show. While Girl may not be in the same league as Picture Show, it does possess some masterful moments of its own. Amirpour has stated in interviews that she'd intended to film her feature debut in Iran, but the country's formidable restrictions put the kibosh on that idea. So, instead, she shot her movie in the industrial town of Taft, in her home state of California. Utilizing gorgeous black-and-white cinematography to highlight the setting of a small desert town in decline, Amirpour creates a world bathed in menace and arid darkness, a place where dreams go to die. In fact, the town's economy--what little of it exists--is on life support provided by a brightly lit oil refinery on the outskirts of town. 

Into this bleak desert outpost comes the mysterious girl who walks home alone at night, though she is hardly the victimized babysitter/final girl suggested by the title. She is, in fact, the one doing the victimizing, a modern-day, chador-wearing vampire who chooses to feast on the jugulars of Bad City's less desirable denizens. During her nocturnal wanderings she is introduced to other midnight rovers who happen to be out and about, getting up to no good. Unexpectedly crossing paths with vicious pimp, Saeed, as he beats a sex-worker, the girl selects the thug to be her next meal. The pimp, sensing a naive young victim to seduce and recruit into his harem, brings her back to his comparatively luxurious, drug-filled house. There, the girl stonily watches Saeed snort coke, primp, pose and dance for her in a scene that is, at once, hilarious and very bloody. Not unlike Clint Eastwood's Man-With-No-Name, the girl--a young woman, actually--barely utters ten sentences throughout the movie; she's a lonely, itinerant soul whose long silences are interrupted by her taste for vengeance and human blood. 

Leaving the scene of the crime, the girl runs into handsome handyman Arash who is entering Saeed's property to try and pay off his heroin-addicted father's drug debts in order to reclaim his '57 T-bird. Although it may not be love at first sight, this brief meeting between the girl and Arash sets the stage for a series of encounters that hasten the development of some sort of relationship. Whether there is an actual romance, or something else based on mutual need, is purposely left unclear, especially towards the end when one of Arash's cruel relatives is found dead and the light bulb finally clicks on in his head. 

There is one very funny scene in which a stoned-out-of-his-gourd Arash huddles on a curbside watching the vampire glide by on a purloined skateboard, her chador flying behind her in the breezy wake. This sequence is utterly sublime, and probably the most ideal moment in the entire movie for me.

 But then, again, there is the cat, who may well be my favorite character in the film. This cat, cool, chunky and beautiful, conceals loads of personality behind an unruffled gaze that has borne witness to numerous unsavory moments. In fact, the cat hovers sphynx-like, front and center, as events unfold in the film's tense, final scene.   

The movie's dialogue is spoken entirely in Persian, accompanied by English subtitles, giving the film an extra-foreign feel: if you didn't know better, you'd swear the movie was an Iranian production. Amirpour's visual references include not only spaghetti westerns, but vampire films of the 1930's, specifically Dracula's Daughter, whose titular character (Gloria Holden) bears a striking resemblance to actor Sheila Vand, the "girl" in this movie. The entire cast of this movie is quite good, especially vacant-eyed vampire Vand, Arash Marandi (as Arash), Marshall Manesh (as Arash's no-good father), Mozhan Marno (as the abused sex worker), and Dominic Rains as Saeed. There is also a lively cameo bit by a transgender individual (referred to simply as Rockabilly) who may be another sex worker or a silent background character whose sole function is to observe the unfolding events without casting judgment. In addition to Lyle Vincent's stunningly atmospheric cinematography and Amirpour's assured direction, the movie's soundtrack is moody, exotic and altogether beguiling. In fact, I like it so much that I've included a link here. 

Despite its premise and no small amount of bloodletting, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night isn't really a horror movie. It's kind of a suspenseful girl-meets-boy (or vampire-meets-boy) shoot 'em up with fangs instead of six-shooters. It's too bad more people haven't seen this movie because, in my opinion--which is anything but humble--it is only going to grow in stature among cineastes and, hopefully, larger audiences in the years to come. A rare gem without a false note. And, oh, that cat!