Film No. 23 (2015) A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night April 4th.

Film No. 23 (2015) April 4th.  7.45 PM LUNA OUTDOOR Leederville. 

 

Tag Line: First Ever Iranian Vampire Western.

 

  A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

 

I wonder if this could also be tagged as Iran's first ever world cult film. I'm sure there are plenty of wonderful local films with cult status within Iran but I don't know of one that has grabbed so many followers world wide. One needs to see the texture of the images and sounds to understand my suggested tag. 

 

Shot in HD black and white to a narrative as simple as the premise of Clint Eastwood walking into a "tinpot" town where much spaghetti will be served. Just like Clint would wander in as the nameless man, Sheila Vand cruises the streets of Bad City as The Girl. No ordinary girl because if an unsavoury person needs to be removed from BC's streets then she sees to it, in classic vampire style.

 

Oh and there is a love story. We're not quite sure if The Girl preordains the meeting she has with Arash (Arash Marandi) but they cross paths very conveniently. We are relieved for Arash because he needs a break from both his demanding father and his father's nasty drug dealer, Saeed (Dominic Rains).

 

Shot in southern California and spoken in Farsi, A Girl has so many US noir influences it could become tiresome (but doesn't). Ana Lily Amirpour has take just the right amount of Jarmusch, Tarantino, Eastwood and even Hawkes and come up with a most interesting, textured film. The backdrop of Bad City depicted industry, the oil industry. Blood seemed to flow as easily from the necks of its inhabitants as the oil from the oilfields. Interesting. 8GUMS