Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.5

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf April 17, 2015

“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” isn’t really a narrative-driven picture, it’s a collection of influences filtered through writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour. Collecting everything she loves about horror, surrealism, and westerns, the helmer attempts to mold a genre tale that doesn’t bother to drop anchor. It’s dreamlike and stylized, but “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” isn’t cohesive, frequently caught up in cinematic references when it should be concentrated on characters. Mix Tape filmmaking is undeniably appealing, but only when there’s a sense of leadership behind the production. This is Amirpour’s debut feature, and it feels like the work of somebody who’s excited to make a movie, but doesn’t have the discipline to unify her love of the arts. More Robert Rodriguez than Quentin Tarantino, Amirpour’s effort has select moments of striking beauty and originality, but as a whole, the endeavor is more obsessed with obsession than building a steady nightmare.

In the heart of Bad City, Arash (Arash Marandi) is living a troubled life. Local pimp Saeed (Dominic Rains) has provided drugs and money to Arash’s junkie father, Hossein (Marshall Manesh), and now he wants to collect, taking the young man’s car as Arash is forced to clean up his family mess. Looking for a distraction as he struggles to make money, Arash meets The Girl (Shelia Vand) one ecstasy-fueled night, intrigued with a quiet woman who stalks the night clad in a chador. As Bad City community members struggle to survive, including 30-year-old prostitute Atti (Mozhan Marno), The Girl takes care of evil influences as a vampire, on the prowl for warm bodies and the treasures they possess. Trying to connect with The Girl, Arash finds love, desiring to commit to the mystery woman as she gradually reveals herself to him.

Although shot in California, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” is set in Iran, with all politics stripped away to focus on the residents of Bad City, an industrial, oil-sucking city in the middle of nowhere. Amirpour is looking to redefine vampire formula, and Iran is a smart place to start, confronting viewers with an unusual landscape and a customary figure of feminine repression in The Girl, who stalks the night clad in traditional garb, keeping a low profile as her black scarf and robe blends into the night. However, she’s the one truly in command, with her thirst keeping her on the move, eliminating undesirables with her fangs and speed, even taking time to frighten a wayward young boy, threatening him into good behavior. The Girl is a graphic novel image come to life, with her enigmatic ways providing Amirpour an opportunity to stage extended scenes of observation, finding the character more of a monitor than a monster, waiting for her chance to strike. She’s also surprisingly proficient on a skateboard, giving the picture a superhero tilt with a most unusual Batmobile.

“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” is dripping with style, shot in Bava-esque black and white and patient with extended takes of characters staring at each other. It’s pure atmosphere, rarely tending to the story with any advanced level of concentration. To Amirpour, the people who live in Bad City (a low-budget variation of “Sin City”) aren’t as interesting as the city itself, only assigning these personalities surface afflictions to keep them in order (e.g. The Junkie, The Whore). The stagnancy of the movie and its dramatic emptiness grows stale quickly, especially when there’s no forward momentum to Arash’s tale of liberation. Instead, moments are reduced to homage, watching the effort crank up a spaghetti western aesthetic without any motivation, and Amirpor clearly adores the work of David Lynch, assigning a cross-dresser the role of town eccentric, spending minutes of screentime on his dance with a mylar balloon. What should be absorbing is instead artificial, with most of “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” trying too hard to ape other films, never quite gelling as its own creation.

Amirpour also doesn’t subscribe to pace, investing in pregnant pauses between characters who really should be conversing with a little more energy (most of them aren’t even named). “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” trusts in silence to express meaning, and the effort employs music as emotion, with The Girl and Arash bonding over pop favorites. This certainly isn’t a chatty picture, but performances register as intended, finding Marandi a capable lead, emotive to the best of his ability. And Vand creates an imposing figure as The Girl, credibly menacing and intriguingly mysterious as the object of empowerment and desire.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While offering atmospheric cinematography that utilizes shadows and deep blacks, the AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation doesn't register with complete clarity. Crush is a problem, with costuming and facial details periodically solidified. Banding and a few noisy bursts are also present in the HD-shot feature. Textures are comfortable with close-ups and Bad City particulars, while vampiric asides are crisply defined, showcasing fangs and nuanced intimidation. Black and white balance is secure, lacking blooming extremes.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix carries the tone of the movie with clarity and purpose, leading with a spooky ambiance that makes use of surround channels to establish surprise, presenting a few discrete jolts and satisfactory panning effects. Atmospherics are important to the track, with industrial humming and night activity communicated. Dialogue is crisp and clean, losing nothing as tempers flare and horror events commence. Music is a primary obsession for the film, finding soundtrack cuts flavorful, holding instrumentation. Scoring is equally powerful, carrying moments with confidence.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Booklet (68 pages) contains the "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" graphic novel and an essay by Eric Kohn.

• Behind the Scenes (20:32, HD) takes viewers to only a few production highlights, watching Vand get fitted for vampire teeth, the removal of Marandi's arm cast, and the shooting of the costume party sequence. Some of these clips are presented without sound, possibly due to music rights issues.

• Deleted Scenes (22:08, HD) aren't substantial cuts from the movie, with one clip showcasing The Girl staring at a wall. Also included: The Girl and Arash bonding over music knowledge, Hossein stumbling home in a drug stupor, and an extended balloon dance with the cross-dressing character (whose entire arc is on view here).

• "Q&A with Roger Corman" (44:18, HD) is dated January, 2015, and takes place at The Contenders Film Festival, with the industry icon interviewing Amirpour in front of an excited audience. Amirpour isn't in the most articulate mood here, often caught stumbling through her thoughts. However, Corman is so smitten with the director, he's keeps the discussion on track, heaping praise and attempting in-depth queries.

• "VICE: Behind the Scenes" (19:13, HD) is featurette from the production company, who capture the creation of "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" through a series of interview pairings, with Amirpour discussing topics with co-producer Elijah Wood and star Vand.

• "VICE Meets Ana Lily Amirpour and Shelia Vand" (31:06, HD) sits down with the director and her star to walk through the origin and intent of "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night." The conversation carries through inspiration, script development, characters, and fundamental story (with handy tabs indicating topic changes for those with an itchy fast-forward button).

• Stills Gallery contains 32 images from the film and the shoot.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (1:29, HD) is included.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Amirpour shows promise as a director, and with a little seasoning, perhaps even greatness. "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" is simply style over substance, homage without meaning. While it creates pretty pictures and toys with genre highlights, it's not particularly fulfilling work, passing through the system as fast as it's consumed.