|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 19,2014
Plot (Spoiler Alert)A vampire wonders an Iranian ghost-town that reeks of death and loneliness. She preys on men. 
Blaine: Ana Lily Amirpour is a very interesting person. She is Iranian, but was born in Europe. Ana’s family moved to Miami, Florida and then settled in Bakersfield, California. Inspiration to make movies came to Ana when she was 12. She would recreate the commercials she saw on TV using her dad’s camera and loved watching director John Landis having fun in the behind the scenes look of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video. Ana Lily Taylor went to an art school first and then film school. After graduating from both school, Ana Lily Amirpour began her career by making short films. Ana Lily Amirpour says filmmaking is a personal thing for her. Ana is not a fan of death, she doesn’t want to die someday. A friend of Ana’s got her hooked on vampires because they are immortal, unless you stab their heart with a wooden stake, use garlic or metal on them and expose them to the sun. Ana wanted to be one of them. Ana was doing a short film called “The Book” and there was an extra walking by wearing this chador on the street. So Ana put the chador on and felt like a bat. A chador moves a certain way and Ana just wanted to be on a skateboard. After that it was clear to Ana that this is what an Iranian vampire would look like. She did a short film about a girl who walks home at night while a guy follows her and she kills him at the end. Ana loved the character so much that she decided to make a full length feature of it. Ana called Sheila Vand, who she has know since 2009, and was in a couple of Ana’s short films, “Pashmaloo” and “Ketab". Ana told Shelia she wanted her to be the vampire in her first full length feature. What Sheila loved about her character is that she is fearless and she doesn’t give a shit about anything. There is things that matter to her. Sheila felt like there is something so powerful about killing someone at the drop of a dime. The vampire character in this film doesn’t have a name she’s just called The Girl. She’s been around for 180 years and is a loner. Ana said that she feels comfortable being alone because she feels it helps her generate most of her power for ideas. The movie takes place in Iran, but it was actually shot in California. It never came to Ana’s mind that she would shoot “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” in Iran because that would be a suicide mission, but she said a film is an opportunity to create your own world and that was exciting and wonderful for her. Ana did want it to take place in Iran and she said it was great that the set designers built her own version of Iran. Lyle Vincent’s cinematography shots look like something out of a magazine. Black and white is still a unique look for artistic stuff like photography and film. The shots in “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” look like something you see in a photography magazine. All the Girl does is spend a lot of her time looking for men to feed on, who are trouble makers, but when she meets Arash she sees a different man. Arash is going through a bit of a difficult time after being rejected by a girl he really likes. But then he meets the Girl and develops a friendship with her. In all years of being immortal, the Girl has never had a friend before and probably hasn’t had any use for friends until Arash comes along. A lot of men have wanted to get close to the Girl in a sexual way, but Arash wants to get close to her in a way where they can be friends. Through the whole film, Arash has no clue that the Girl is a vampire. It’s interesting for The Girl to be hanging out with a boy, without having to feed on him and doing normal things people usually do. There’s a shot in the film stays in place during this scene where the Girl is playing music after bringing Arash to her place shortly after they meet. He spins her disco ball and lights are spinning around the room. The Girl is in one position and Arash slowly approaches her from behind. Then when Arash is right up against the Girl, she slowly turns around. Their movement in that scene is slow. She raises his head and looks like she is aiming for the neck, but instead she chooses to cuddle. That shot lasts for two minutes. The Girl feels like someone special to Arash, of course she manages to find her way into other people’s lives. People Arash knows. She kills them and Arash shows up later finding the bodies without having a clue who could have done this. Even though they haven’t each other for more than a week I would say, Arash wants to leave his home and take the Girl with him. All Arash sees is death around the place and the Girl is all he has left. So they drive off. I really admire Ana Lily Amirpour for her passion in movies and her artistry in making them. That’s what I see in “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night”. My rating on “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” is five out five stars. Cinematography Shots on Page 2 |