A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
By NARA MOHYEDDIN ‘21
In 2014, Ana Lily Amirpour released the Farsi-language film, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” to a predominantly Western audience. Down to the amazing, eclectic soundtrack, the movie is an collection of everything Amirpour had ever seen or wanted to see in movies. Therefore, it encompasses a thousand genres, including Western, thriller, new-wave Iranian, film noir, vampire, and perhaps even feminist. While these elements may sound difficult to harmonize, critics overwhelmingly agree that the movie turned out to be a success. And frankly, I agree with the critics; the movie inspired me to pick up a skateboard and take a film class, and it’s a favorite to this day.
The title is ominous–and, indeed, so is the movie itself, but not just because of its underlying connotations. Amirpour’s film is thrilling because it’s a role reversal of the predator and prey of our Western imaginations (although the film is in Farsi, the actors are from the Western-located diaspora, and it was filmed in a Californian town for a Western audience. The film is banned in Iran). The ultimate spot on the food chain is held by a hijabi, challenging our perceptions of power and highlighting the dichotomy between truth and appearance. A girl walking home alone at night may be the most vulnerable character of our real lives, but in this movie, she is the city’s vigilante justice-bearer.
Set in Bad City, the film features a nameless character, called 'the girl’ (a lonely chador-clad vampire), serving as the guardian angel to a prostitute, making sure none of Bad City’s male characters can harm her without retaliation. She’s fine going through her routine of stalking citizens and jamming out to her favorite records when she meets Arash, a James Dean-esque sweetheart and a troubled son. While the actors, soundtrack, plot, and nearly every feature amazed the audience, the thematic depth and cinematography of this movie were what really made it stand apart. The takes varied drastically from slow and long until they were violent and treacherous. Each shot with its interesting focusing techniques could be a photograph on its own. The black and white only intensified the shadows, adding to the theme of good and evil. And what about this theme itself? The main character/love interest, Arash, represents good to some extent, but not even he can escape Bad City without some marks on his morality. While Arash’s white T-shirts make him stand out visually as a pure force, he is still a petty thief and a drug dealer. While the girl, who is never named, may be justified in her cynicism on the worth of human life, even she threatens little children and murders the homeless.
Now, we’ve established that this film’s unique combo makes it appealing to the artsy, but why should you watch it? Well, it’s the season for a movie like this: spooky season! The movie is in black and white. Many people die, only to be dragged unceremoniously onto a pit of bodies near the highway. The city is enshrouded in doom and a vampire is shrouded in the monochrome darkness of her chador. There’s even a costume party: Arash leaves it high off his own supply and dressed like Dracula when he formally meets the girl for the the first time. Not to mention the quirky beat of some of the scenes and exchanges. As the girl is surveying the prospective meal that’s too incapacitated and naive to run away, Arash is trying to hug her and make a new friend, assuring her that even though he’s Dracula, he won’t hurt her.
Come on now, let the temptation of Bad City overcome you. As with most deserted towns, it has plenty of vacancies for you to occupy. Wander its streets, inhabited only when the local supplier is leaning off the wall or standing on the corner. Meet its residents: let them help you embrace evil; let them show you that it exists even in angels, even in those you love the most dearly. Find a new world view in an old and sad vampire. And at the end, if you still want to, you can leave. Believe me, though— you won’t want to.