A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

Ana Lily Amirpour created a film that is one of the most unique films I have ever seen. She blends multiple genres together seamlessly. The film is a visually stunning, captivating work of cinema with a great soundtrack. The narrative is rather simple but the powerful imagery and characters slowly revealing who they are, keeps viewers intrigued. The story is strikingly feminist with the vampire woman killing men who mistreat women. The film utilizes stereotypical characters, successfully drawing focus to the main character of the mysterious vampire girl.

The movie is a film noir, western and horror all rolled into one. The filmmakers implement stylistic elements commonly used in film noir. The effective use of shadows, dimly lit rooms, sharp contrast and the camera shifting focus add to the mysterious essence. The choice to have the film be shot in entirely black and white, allows the lighting contrast and shadows to really pop. The shadows cut across characters' faces, highlighting their feelings of being lost, vulnerable and sad. Amirpour's film also includes the establishing shots commonly used in Westerns to show vast landscapes. Only in this film, we see an establishing shot showing a dam filled with dead bodies, properly introducing the film's setting, Bad City. The anti-hero vampire who sucks the blood of male criminals, is reminiscent of the cowboys of Spaghetti Westerns. The movie has horror elements with the main character being a vampire, lurking the streets at night. The vampire woman scares a mischievous child into behaving. This is probably so he does not turn out like the pimp she ate at the beginning of the movie. There is blood, death and a striking use of deep blacks, making it a strong horror.

The film's story is very simple. A lonely vampire feasts on the bad men of Bad City, meets hardworking Arash who's dealing with his drug addict father, they fall in love and leave the horrid city behind. It becomes clear in the film that although the characters do bad things like sell drugs or kill people, nearly every character is vulnerable. The story moves at a slower pace than a typical Hollywood movie. Even if some scenes are not moving the story forward, the audience gets to know characters better in these moments.

My favorite scene in the entire film shows the vampire girl's temptation to suck Arash's blood but she ends up restraining herself due to her having feelings for him. Arash is also probably spared because he shows that he is vulnerable, unlike the other horrible men in the city. The scene is filled with passion, tension and patience. Arash approaching the vampire girl dressed as Count Dracula is ironic, funny but also symbolic. Almost as if Arash is going to make her feel something powerful and deep for the first time in years. Something a mortal human would experience. The scene has the song "Death" by White Lies playing in the background and a disco ball spinning. The disco ball shines off the walls amongst the shadows. The ball only spins faster as the scene progresses, as the two characters get closer to each other. The speed increases as the two characters' feelings grow for each other. The light reflecting off the disco ball onto the shadowed walls could also be a symbol representing the light of love entering the girl's dark, lonely life. When the girl puts her ear up against Arash's chest, there is a deep thud that enters the sound mix. Which leads one to believe that the vampire woman is getting the sense of life and love for the first time.

The film is dark, mysterious and haunting but ends with a glimmer of hope. The vampire woman and Arash successfully leave Bad City together. The uniqueness and mysterious, dark tone are what make this film re-watchable.