“So… what did you see all this time watching me?“
Advertised as the “first Iranian vampire western,” A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) is a stunning film, shot in monochrome black and white, written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour.
The film is set in the Iranian ghost-town Bad City and tells the story of a lonely vampire in a chador who stalks the town’s habitants at night. She eventually meets the young Arash, who lives with his heroin-addicted father, Hossein.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is the debut feature length film of Amirpour and is a striking debut at that. Cinematically, it is filled with eye-catching, dramatic visuals which are mesmerising and help to push forward any slow parts in the plot.
A few scenes in particular really stand out, but the one that caught my attention the most is when Arash, dressed as a vampire, heads over to the lonely vampire’s apartment where “Death” by White Lies plays in the background on vinyl over their slow motion movement. Arash leaves his neck exposed, ready for the vampire, but she spares him. The music, visual effects and tension of “will she or won’t she?” work really well together.
The film in its entirety features an incredible soundtrack including Kiosk, Federale and specifically scored tracks from Bei Ru (“Bread Thief” is a favourite which adds to the wonderful nightclub scene half way through the film).
With a masterpiece of a debut, Amirpour has a lot to live up to in her second feature length film The Bad Batch (2016) which she describes as “a post-apocalyptic cannibal love story set in a Texas wasteland,” adding that it’s “very violent” and “very romantic.” Although, with a plot like that and the visuals she is capable of, I think she’ll manage to give us another remarkable addition to the film industry.
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