A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
Starring Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi
Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour
It seems that every time the vampire genre threatens to grow moribund, someone unveils an inspired new take on the lore surrounding the most seductive of the undead. Writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night not only offers a bewitching vision of bloodsucking predators, it also heralds the arrival of an astonishing new talent who weds her stylish vision with an ear for pitch-perfect soundtracks.
Set to the strains of English post-punk, Middle Eastern electronica and spaghetti western-inspired instrumentals, Amirpour’s film unfolds in a dreamy realm that’s a swirling melange of influences and goes by the evocative name of Bad City. An industrial outpost that’s home to countless oil wells and a single ditch forebodingly filled with bodies, this is the stage upon which a bad-ass boy (Arash Marandi) who pilots a vintage Ford Thunderbird meets a lonely undead girl (Sheila Vand) who navigates the desolate streets by skateboard as she seeks out morally dubious prey.
The early films of Jim Jarmusch are routinely turned to as a point of reference for those attempting to describe the heady milieu that Amirpour has masterfully conjured here. It’s an apt comparison, not only because of the sense of deadpan surrealism that’s evoked but also due to the ineffable coolness the film radiates. It’s ultimately this dizzying atmosphere that ensures that Girl is considerably more than the sum of Amirpour’s impeccable influences. Having described cinema as “an altered state” in interviews, the first-time feature director upholds her end of the bargain, creating a richly detailed phantasmagoric fairy tale that’s an enticing alternative to reality.
Screening at the Vancity Theatre on Feb 7, 8, 20 and 21.
