Monday, 5 October 2015

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A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT [2014, USA - Persian]
Iranian-American film director, Ana Lily Amirpour showcases her feature film debut at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and made quite an impression, mostly for the multi-angled aspects of the film which appear to be brilliant mash-ups. We have at core a storyline or trope about vampires which seemed to have reached its saturation point, yet told in the most unconventional style, it's like no other vampire films you've ever seen. Whilst the characters move about taking their time in the mysterious chilling set up, it is most importantly a romantic love story which connects two unlikely souls. Fangs and gore will be there as it is still somehow a horror film, but don't expect vampires suited up in period, Victorian clothing who travel by transmuting into flapping bats. Instead, we have here a demure, doe-eyed Iranian woman wrapped in a chador, tooling around the streets at night on a skateboard she stole from a kid, looking for her victims. Spoken in Farsi, the story will unhurriedly move into silent cinema mood at various points, pointing out its art-house vaunt, but viewers will also fall in love with the peculiar soundtrack inserted, ranging from daunting Iranian punk-rock to UK-influenced electro-pop. Sorry if I'm going on a bit about the mash-ups, but it is to me the pivotal, most delicious selling-point of the film. Amirpour herself describes her film as the Iranian love-child of Sergio Leone and David Lynch, with Nosferatu as a babysitter.
Being a fan of horror flicks, I do enjoy mainstreams like The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity series and Insidious, but it's the daredevils like The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) and A Girl that really give this genre a refreshing jolt. Amirpour invests considerably in making her choice for going thin in plot, rich in style work. And it did. Sparse as it may in its plot and dialogue, what this director-writer who has been touted as "the next Tarantino" brings to the table is rather sumptuous. There's a poetic feminist undercurrent which takes form of the titular unnamed "girl" (Sheila Vand) and her prowling on deserving men who have exploited women. The taciturn vampire finds a chance of romance when she meets Arash (Arash Marandi) in his Dracula outfit after a costume party. Chemistry is eminent, though she warns Arash, "I've done bad things." The scenes that follow slowly unveil the connection between the two protagonists. Arash has done some bad things too, as he points out, and we soon learn that they are basically victims of loneliness. In the midst of the desolate wasteland, so beautifully depicted in the contemporary black and white imaginary Bad City, the two find solace in each other.
Amirpour's audacious debut is iconic, with its trancelike and seductive charm. A true gem for art-house film lovers.
Rating : A-


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