A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Eric Hynes and Nate von Zumwalt
There’s not much one can hope to gather from the genre-spanning description for Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. After all, what is a Persian vampire comedy romance – or one better, an Iranian vampire western? Now’s your chance to find out. The inscrutable work from Amirpour will be on display once again on Sunday, August 10, at Sundance NEXT FEST. This time, however, the film’s denouement will be marked by a set from Los Angeles-bred indie rock band Warpaint.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night takes place in the desolate, dusty oil town of Bad City, where a young man struggles against a junky dad and a preening pimp, and an unassuming young woman stalks the night as a vigilante vampire. Shot in stunning anamorphic black and white by cinematographer Lyle Vincent, and accompanied by a soundtrack that mixes Iranian and European pop and rock with an operatic, Ennio Morricone-like score, Amirpour’s film evokes everything from Down By Law to Rebel Without a Cause without skipping its own beat.
When asked about her inspiration for the film after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, she cited Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish and Harmony Korine’s Gummo—“for those weird small towns that actually are real, but seem totally not,” she said. And to describe why she chose her film format, she said that black and white gave her “a separation from reality” that fostered some of the more supernatural elements of the story. And also: “Anamorphic makes me just come in my pants.”
Warpaint
Not to be outdone, Warpaint will take the stage following the closing credits and perform a set of their expansive rock, including hits from their latest self-titled album that Rolling Stone has described as the perfect soundtrack to a “moonlit dance party.” Have a listen below and join us at the Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles on August 10. Click here for tickets.
