“A New Vampire Classic” - Indiewire

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Dir: Ana Lily Amirpour
2014
101 Minutes
Persian with English subtitles
Rated 14 for violence

Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature, promoted as the “the first Iranian vampire western,” is an effortlessly cool arthouse horror about a nameless, skateboarding, chador-cloaked “girl” (Sheila Vand) who prowls the deserted streets of “Bad Town” at night, feasting on badly-behaved men. Her bloodthirstiness is complicated when she develops a sweet tooth for Arash, a good-hearted and good-looking boy in search of a better life. The girl’s black cloak, which doubles aesthetically and symbolically as a vampire cape, is a visual equivalent to the film’s title, allowing Anarpour to playfully subvert assumptions of gender, culture, power, and plot; where these intersect in lies the film’s cunning and resultant social commentary. Recalling the early films of Jim Jarmusch, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a rewarding slow burn shot in crisp black and white, offering up subtle, deadpan humour, a killer soundtrack, and many memorable dance sequences ― not to mention the most romantic ear-piercing scene in cinematic history. An instant cult classic.

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