Stevieboy666 Set in Iran, but filmed in California, this is a simple tale of a hip, young guy called Arash who falls in love with a mysterious girl that happens to be a vampire. Beautifully filmed in black & white with a fantastic soundtrack this touches on issues such as addiction, greed, sex and love. Well acted, including Masuka the cat who gets a well deserved credit. Some people may be put off by it being Persian language, which would be a shame. I certainly look forward to watching it again.

Sidzjo How scorn works: Ana Lily Amirpour is a female! She has a Middle Eastern background! How striking! Let's patronize with exceedingly low expectations. Cue rave reviews...Don't fall for it.Let's instead show the woman some respect, and be frank. This film is utter garbage.A vampire who kills those who are mean to womankind. She even steals a skateboard from a kid! Are there no limits to her malevolence?Glacially slow. The film is a series of largely disconnected tableaux peppered with shots of an industrial landscape and a nondescript suburbia. The acting is appalling.

cjaye For me, this was a movie about loneliness and love - every single person in this movie is so lonely and lost and searching for beauty and light - there's a lot of other interesting things about this movie, a commentary on how Muslim women are treated, an ode to horror movies and westerns... but the depth of it and why it touched me was the characters who were all lost looking for love in the darkest of places. The film itself was visually stunning and the soundtrack great, I also loved how different it was, you would be hard pressed to find a movie similar - it has it's own heartbeat and uniqueness. Sure it starts slow, and is slow, you can't be in a hurry to get through this movie, but that is part of what makes it so wonderful because that tone makes you feel how the characters must feel lost and stuck in this "bad city." With the Farsi dialect and the interesting yet familiar iconic characters it is like walking into a different world that somehow you know. I loved the vampire, her acting was so subtle all done with her eyes, an animal that you couldn't trust yet wanted to. For those who say this is a pretentious film, I'll never understand, it's ARTSY, but it is not overly aware of itself or trying to be pompous, it's just telling this weird story with these weird characters with this very stylized feel and if you just open yourself to it and go with it and let it wash over you I think you will love it as much as I did.

CinemaClown A calm, alluring & subversive art-house endeavour from Ana Lily Amirpour in what's her feature film debut, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is as impressive as it is unconventional, as beautiful as it is brooding, and as hypnotic as it is haunting. Touted as "the first Iranian vampire western", it is a fascinating blend of horror, romance & western that's original, meditative & masterly composed.Set in an Iranian ghost-town that reeks of death & loneliness, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night tells the story of a lonesome vampire that wanders the desolate streets at night; stalking, killing or protecting whoever she deems fit. But things change when she comes across a guy who's just as lost as her and, in an effort to connect with each other, something beautiful is born between the two.Written & directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is crafted with stunning restraint & presents the up-n-coming filmmaker in absolute control of her craft. Lily Amirpour's direction exudes both patience & confidence as she spins her own take on the vampire folklore with this twisted fable of two lost souls without giving in to genre conventions, and isn't afraid to employ silence as a powerful & effective tool.For a debut feature, it is an incredibly sophisticated effort, and Lily Amirpour not only exhibits her firm grip on storytelling elements but all filmmaking aspects. The story takes place in Bad City, an Iranian town in the middle of nowhere, and the deserted locations, vacant streets & fraction of denizens add to its graveyard like aura while the resurfacing shots of drilling pumps perpetually sucking oil out of Earth serves as an interesting companion to its vampiric themes.The script is only concerned with the doings of two characters, Arash & The Girl, and the rest of the town's inhabitants are discerned by simple tags assigned to them. What's also admirable is that it is never in a hurry to switch to the next moment and actually embraces the silence & emptiness that permeates every frame, which in turn contributes to its somber tone & funereal gloominess. But there are also times when its extended takes bring the narrative to a standstill.Shot in crisp black-n-white, Cinematography brings an elusive quality to the whole picture with its static camera-work, skillful use of slow-mo technique & beautifully composed shots, and further intensifies its otherworldly setting. Another one of my favourite aspects is its mesmerising soundtrack, comprising of sensibly chosen tracks that are evocative and always in check with the emotional requirements of any given moment.Coming to the performances, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night features a committed cast in Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Mozhan Marnò, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains & Rome Shadanloo, and each one of them get sufficient time on screen. Vand's subtle expressions & unwavering gaze turns her silent showcase into the most impressive performance in the movie and she is brilliantly supported by the rest of the cast, each playing their part with utmost conviction.On an overall scale, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a somber effort that's elegiac in its approach, dreamlike in its presentation, and subdued in its addressing of topical themes. Crafted with care & intimacy, it promises an etherial, absorbing & aesthetically fulfilling experience to those willing to embrace its slow-burn narrative and marks a promising start to Ana Lily Amirpour's filmmaking career. Although its fangs aren't as deeply embedded as I would have liked, this thoughtful meditation on loneliness is still a delightful discovery that's worthy of a broader audience.