The vampire in “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” (2014) doesn’t seem to relish being a vampire. It seems she’d rather be listening to music, or eating hamburgers brought to her by cute boys. There are only three kills in the entire movie, two of them perpetrated against men mistreating women. In between these killings of necessity (a girl’s gotta eat) or retribution, there is a sweet, dark little movie about lonely people and the joy you can find in connection. And a killer soundtrack.
Arash (a real cutie) and his heroin-addicted father are in debt to the father’s dealer Saeed, a greedy, merciless sadist. In awe of the power of his own charm and charisma, Saeed passes an eerily silent young woman on the street and immediately invites her to his home. Things do not go well for Saeed. Arash takes over Saeed’s business, minus the sadism. Gradually, the lives of Arash and this woman intertwine, almost as if they have been searching for one another. Filmed in black and white in a spare California desert town (posing as a spare Iranian desert town), the harsh aesthetic makes the moments of warmth and humor in the movie feel that much more tender and welcome. There is also a really fantastic cat.
Rated: Not Rated
Language: Persian with English subtitles
Say “I’ll bite” and place a hold.
