Review:
"A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"
Release Date: April 10, 2015
Rating: Not Rated Running Time: 107 minutes Boy meets vampire in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour’s achingly romantic chiller that possesses the same profound sense of longing and intimacy as Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive. The ethereal Sheila Vand makes for a haunting presence as the Girl, a vampire who feeds upon the bad in Iran’s Bad City. While Amirpour positions the Girl as Bad City’s judge, jury, and executioner, she also makes clear that the Girl is less of a monster than those she condemns to death. The Girl also is a vampire of few words, and this is never more evident than when she finds her potential soul mate in Arash (Arash Marandi), one of the few good men in Bad City. It’s not what the lovers say that intrigues Amirpour—it’s how they say it. The silent glances exchanged between Vand and Marandi convey more emotion than any verbal expressions of love and affection. Events, though, conspire against these star-crossed lovers, allowing Amirpour to throw their future together into question. Lyle Vincent’s glorious black-and-white photography adds to the intensity of the passion that burns between the couple and heightens the dangerous allure of Bad City. A Southern California town doubles as Amirpour’s fictional Iranian city, which explains why Bad City feels like a ghost town that could be as American and it is Middle Eastern. Bad City isn’t a place you would want to call home, but it is a place for the most unusual of lovers. Robert Sims Aired: April 9, 2015 Web site: http://films.vice.com/a-girl-walks-home/ |
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