Amid an endless stream of sequels, prequels, franchises and reboots, the idea of an original concept is something of an unknown entity – like a needle in a haystack, you know they’re around, but just so damn hard to find.
Lucky for us, the Sundance title A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is just the thing to cleanse our palette of the same old song and dance routine Hollywood has been performing as of late. Even luckier for us, the film is has been picked up by distribution company Kino Lorber for theatrical release in North America.
In what is dubbed the first “Iranian Vampire Western,” we have the directorial debut of Ana Lily Amirpour, who led the film to the opening night of the New Directors/New Films festival in New York City. It follows a seductive female vampire as she prowls the night in search of her victims – and her food. However, there is more to the film than meets the eye, as the film can also be read as a biting metaphor on current Iranian affairs.
When will we see this refreshingly original picture? Kino Lorber is currently planning a cinema run for October 2014, and we should expect a Blu-ray and digital release in early 2015. This is sure to be exciting news for anybody big on world cinema, independent filmmaking – or, quite simply, vibrant and untapped ideas.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night certainly turned a few heads after its showing at Sundance. Variety noted that the film “etches a sweet, sad and solemnly fatalistic love story” and praised Lyle Vincent’s beautiful black-and-white cinematography, which gives the film a “velvety finish making a Gotham-esque playground of this bleak, indeterminate wasteland.”
Now reviews aren’t much to go on – as we much prefer to make up our own minds on what is good and bad – but the positive buzz that emanated from Sundance and other screenings has really whet my appetite. I can’t wait for October to roll around so we can finally sink our teeth into – what should be – a rich vein of a film throbbing with originality, class and vibrancy.
