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Nov 21, 2014 By Jennifer Chang Web Exclusive

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a highly-stylized, Iranian vampire film. The title character, the Girl, roams Bad City in the dark, wearing her chador like a cape and hunting men of all ages. Sometimes she is a blood-sucking monster, and other times just a stone-faced prankster. Elsewhere in Bad City is Arash, a poor gardener whose luck changes when he stumbles on a suitcase full of drugs and money (and a gun) after the Girl had disposed of the stash’s previous owner. Yet even with this elevated status, nothing seems to change in Arash’s life, that is, until he meets the Girl again. When the vampire and Arash fall in love, doubt starts to form in the Girl’s mind over whether Arash will be able to accept who she is and what she has done.

A Girl Walks Home will find audience among those who favored 2013’s Only Lovers Left Alive, which was also thin on plot but rich in style. While streaming this film at home would allow one to watch it curled up in PJs with a mug of very dark cocoa, this is a theater worthy production. Director Ana Lily Amirpour makes great use of the stark black-and-white medium. With her hair and neck hidden in the black chador, the Girl’s pale face protrudes ghostly out of a circle of darkness when she hunts. Details that could easily be missed on the small screen are also what makes the movie so intriguing, such as the drug dealer’s humorous tattoos (including but not limited to: a smiley face, a broken heart, Pac-man, and “SEX” spelled out in caps), or a startling and unexplained backdrop of an open mass grave.

Overt violence against men who prey on women isn’t surprising in a movie with this provocative title, but images of the Girl sailing through Bad City on skateboard presents a much more subtle and liberating feel of empowerment. An impressive debut such as this makes one look forward to Amirpour’s next work.

www.films.vice.com/a-girl-walks-home/

Author rating: 6.5/10