Mala Noche
Now *I* had a bad night yesterday, which is solely due to the fact that I went to sleep after midnight and woke up 8 hours later. Is it that 8 hours of sleep is not enough (that would be scary) or because I just went to sleep too late?
At any rate, no bad night can be as bad as the night which gave the movie its title. I must admit that I’m not really sure what to think about the movie. It’s exactly what I expected from Gus van Sant’s debut, after having seen Elephant and Gerry, but on the other hand, I didn’t expect it to be in black and white, and perhaps I also expected some slightly more fleshed-out characters. Ultimately, people don’t speak much in this film, and for somebody whose relationships rely mostly on dialogue, I can’t quite get into their relationship, nor really take it for serious. (Perhaps this is what I’m doing wrong.) I know that Gus van Sant has always been like this, he shows more than he tells, but in that case he could have gotten rid of the narration too?
Luckily, the actor playing Walt is a capable one and makes his characters and feelings look authentic. Authenticism is probably the strongest point of the film altogether: Despite the lack of color and dialogue, everything feels very real and even though I have never been to Portland, I imagine it to be exactly like in this film. Plus, props for being able to pull this movie off with 25,000$. I still can’t forgive „Once“ for spending like 130,000 for no apparent reason.
Apart from that, the film really was full of way too beautiful men together? XD I definitely have preferred most of Gus van Sant’s other films over this one (and I especially have a guilty weakness for his kitsch Hollywood movies „Good Will Hunting“ and „Finding Forrester“), but I do think that this is quite a strong debut. In many ways, I find this film to be a lot like „Permanent Vacation“, another beautiful independent debut. And objectively, “Mala Noche” is the much better film.
omg i am totally loving the way you are working the Monolith!! xD
i love love this movie. i don’t know why, it’s basically a lot of ruminating men not getting what they want and just going along with the drift. but it is such damn stylish movie, in a way that can still be called “authentically indie”, just as Permanent Vacation was, before the mass of American “Indie”-flicks from today arrived, which have all but killed this aesthetic over and over again. (um, but Humpday is still awesome. watch it!)
already in this debut he uses those discrete signature sex-scene-montages!
PS: HAHA, I actually can’t wait for you to start hating a monolith-film! I’m excited to see which one it’ll be first!! xD XD
I agree with your assessment of the “true indie. The best feature of “Mala Noche” is its authenticity, like many debut films of now famous directors. Have you seen the first short film Ridley Scott did? It’s in Cinema 16. That was also a nice one.
After seeing “Mala Noche”, I think that his version of Brokeback Mountain would have been very, very interesting, more than ever.
I’ll put Humpday onto my to-watch list ;)
Ahhh, hating a Monolith film. I think there are a few things that I’m currently avoiding (like the Stroheim movie XD), and right now, I’m mostly watching the ones that I’m sure I will absolutely love.
There is something to be said about the age of films. I liked L’Atalante a lot and I love M to pieces, but those are exceptions. Normally, I would always feel a little distant towards films that feel old to me. Most of them are made before 1940, with the Hollywood screwball comedies being the exception to the rule. For those somewhat dated films, I feel like I can’t really like them but also can’t judge them. “Letter from an Unknown Woman” is one that comes to mind immediately, “La Règle du Jeu” is another. Also, I hated “La peau douce” by Truffaut back then when I watched it, and “Requiem for a Dream” (ahaha). In a nutshell, I tend to only love or hate somewhat modern (or at least timeless) films, whereas I’m mostly neutral towards older films. So I’m wondering if I’m going to hate any of the Monolith films, considering how old most of them are? XD