A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” is a horror Western film written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. This is the first feature film that the director made and the second film that I’ve seen from her. I saw “the bad batch” years ago, and I was fascinated by the world that was built in the movie. It seems that Amirpour insist on create a unique world of hers in her movies, which is the strongest point of her films as well.
This film about a young man who falls in love with a female vampire. Arash who have a lot of challenges with his drug addicted father try his best to make his life better but the difficulties, poverty and the addicted parent, lead him to become a drug dealer. One night he meets a girl who is a vampire and after all these two decide to leave the city together”
The film has a lot of nostalgic cinematic reminders. Such as the structure of the classic vampire film that we’ve seen before, or the nostalgic theme of Persian film from early 70s and 80s in clothes and makeup. Also, there is a western form in the first frames and in the story, a lonely man who is dealing with a lot of problems in a middle of nowhere and at the end leave the city. Also, the name of “Bad City” reminds us of the “Sin City” films and their beautiful frames and comical forms. It can be said that the director knows and liked different genres.
I believe the main thing that director is trying to say is the importance of change in a daily life. As we see the part that Arash says; “If there was a storm coming right now, a big storm, from behind those mountains, would it matter? Would it change anything?” The main problem in the Bad City seems to be that things won’t change, and people are doomed to live their miserable life. As we see the vampire kills those who accepted this life and are trying to carry on in the same situation, or in Arash’s father case, the vampire kills him because she is killing the hope of change and better life in the prostitute’s mind.
Overall, I assume in this film, Amirpour is searching for her roots, and she is trying to understand the immigration and maybe her parents. Despite the accent that made it hard sometimes to understand the dialog and some unanswered question in the story, this is a good film with beautiful frames and metaphors that worth watching. I have to admit that I like “The Bad Batch” more than this one, and I believe it has a more structured story and the made-up world is better developed. But it’s undeniable that “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” was Amirpour’s first world that led her to become the director she is today.
By the way, it’s pretty irony that the name of the film is “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” and we do not know anything about that girl.