Film Review: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"

I waited eleven months for this movie and I finally saw it over the weekend. The wait was worth it! I love it! I adore it! And I think it's a masterpiece!

"A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" is a triumph of contemporary cinema. Every frame, every minute of the movie satisfy in all levels. There's comedy, drama, theater, thriller, horror, romance - even music, oh, how I love the score! The film is a mash-up of several genres that only someone who lives and breathes movies could have ever done. Think Quentin Tarantino but less gory and less revolting. Think Robert Rodriguez but with better storytelling. I am never a big fan of the horror genre but this movie made me reconsider that (for how long, i really can't tell because there are just so many bad ones squeezing every tricks that may have worked before thus rendering the entire genre an afterthought to me.)

But, no, this one is not. This assured film debut by Ana Lily Amirpour is hailed as the first Iranian Vampire Western ever made and the audience can sense that she had fun doing the movie. It is like listening to a film buff rattle off all the movies she loves, the film styles she wants to emulate, the directors and genres she fancy and how dear she holds her motherland in her heart. And she pulled this off without letting go of her grip on the core romance between her two protagonists that holds the entire movie together. Yes, there's a girl in this movie but there is also a guy. I will not dwell on this because I would want the reader to have the same joy I had in discovering this one aspect of the film that I tremendously enjoyed.

I always find myself rambling when I write about a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and loved that I tend to forget a lot of things. I will not allow that for this film. I will start with the gorgeous black-and-white photography that lends the film an edgy atmosphere that makes the audience feel what it feels like to be alone, to be unseen. And the performances by the ensemble are glorious! Sheila Vand and Arash Marandi are just so perfect in their roles! Mozhan Marinó is terrific.

The film is not short on subtexts as well. Every movie is an allegory for something and if you are in a particular mood to brood about it, this movie offers a lot to think about. Some are obvious, some obscure but what is certain about this film is that it offers pure cinematic pleasure!

Rating: 5 Stars

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
Writer and Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Producers: Sina Sayyah, Justin Begnaud, Ana Lily Amirpour
Executive Producers: – Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller, Nick Moceri, Ben Conrad, Alexei Tylevich, Reza Sixo Safai, Daniel Grove, Patrick Grove
Cast – Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Mozhan Marinó, Dominic Rains, Milad Eghbali, Rome Shadanloo, Marshall Manesh
Website: http://films.vice.com/a-girl-walks-home/

Don't miss "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" this November!

Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to prostitutes, junkies, pimps and other sordid souls, is a bastion of depravity and hopelessness where a lonely vampire stalks its most unsavory inhabitants.

One of the most awaited films of the year is finally showing in Los Angeles this month. Beginning November 21st, film buffs will now have a chance to watch "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night", which has been enthralling audiences since its Sundance premiere last January. Yesterday, the film received an award at the ongoing Hawaiian International Film Festivals.

Here's a sample of some of the superlative reviews the movie is getting:

“'Funny, scary, oddly sexy and deeply gorgeous... Watching A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, you get the impression that you're witnessing something iconic and important unfold before you.”
--  Drew Taylor, The Playlist

“A beguiling, cryptic and often surprisingly funny look at personal desire that creeps up on you with the nimble powers of its supernatural focus. Grade: A”
-- Eric Kohn, Indiewire

“'Middle Eastern feminist vampire romance' is likely to remain an underpopulated cinematic sub genre, but at least it now has a luminous standard-bearer in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”
-- Guy Lodge, Variety

"A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" is cinema's first Iranian vampire western, Writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour's debut feature basks in the sheer pleasure of pulp. A joyful mash-up of genre, archetype, and iconography, its prolific influences span spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, and the Iranian New Wave. Amped by a mix of Iranian rock, techno, and Morricone-inspired riffs, its airy, anamorphic, black-and-white aesthetic and artfully drawn-out scenes combine the simmering tension of Sergio Leone with the weird surrealism of David Lynch.

Ms. Amirpour is currently in Los Angeles doing the press round.

Credits:
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Screenwriter: Ana Lily Amirpour
Producers: Sina Sayyah, Justin Begnaud, Ana Lily Amirpour
Executive Producers: Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller, Nick Moceri, Ben Conrad, Alexei Tylevich, Reza Sixo Safai, Daniel Grove, Patrick Grove
Principal Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Dominic Rians, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marno, Milad Eghbali
Cinematographer: Lyle Vincent
Editor: Alex O'Flinn
Country: U.S.A.
Language: Farsi with English subtitles
Runtime: 107 minutes

See you at the movies!

XXX

Raymond Lo

Posters: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night", "White Bird in a Blizzard"

There are so many movies (particularly from Cannes) that i am eagerly waiting to see. But there are two titles that emerged with solid buzz from this winter's Sundance that i just can't, can't, can't wait to see!

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

White Bird in a Blizzard





































Hopefully, they will be released in regular theaters soon!!!

xxx
Raymond Lo

Iran's "Please Do Not Disturb" to open Film Festival Flix

The 2011 Iranian film "Please Do Not Disturb" will open this season's Film Festival Flix series on May 8, 2014 at 7 in the evening. Laemmle NoHo 7 (address: 5240 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood) will host the premiere.

Written, produced and directed by noted filmmaker Mohsen Abdolvahab, "Please Do Not Disturb" is set in contemporary Tehran, the capital city of Iran, and portrays the city life in three distinctive episodes of sentiment, sensitivity and wit. In the first story, a young woman who has been beaten by her husband is about to file a restraining order, while her husband tries to talk her out of it in fear of career embarrassment. The next story is about a clergyman whose wallet and documents have been stolen and follows him as he tries to get the documents back from the thief. The last story is of an elderly couple alone in a building whose TV has broken and they are afraid of opening the door for the young repairman who has come to help them.

The film stars Baran Kosari, Afshin Hashemi, Hedayat Hasemi, Shirin Yazdanbakhsh, Mohsen Kazemi, and Hamed Behdad.

Tickets are available at the box office or at the fest's web page: www.filmfestivalflix.com.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

6:00PM: Red Carpet Photos and Pre-Event Cocktails at Michael Roud Photography.

7:30PM “Please Do Not Disturb” Screens

9:00PM: Q&A

9:20PM: After Party at Eclectic Wine Bar & Grille, 5156 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood.

Film Festival Flix has flipped the old distribution model to accommodate changing times and shifting viewer habits. In past years, distributors have used the internet to drive audiences to theaters. Film Festival Flix is using theatrical openings and a monthly nationwide theatrical premiere series to drive audiences to its virtual studio and distribution channels. And it’s working. Film Festival Flix’s monthly theatrical event series offers VIP passes, Q&A’s with filmmakers and social interaction with like-minded cinephiles in the comfort of local towns and cities nationwide.

XXX

Raymond