A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

Set in Iran, a young man (Arash Marandi) must deal with his embittered widowed and drug addicted father (Marshall Manesh) who is in debt to his dealer (Dominic Rains). But one night he meets a mysterious girl (Sheila Vand) who walks the streets at night and his attraction to her will challenge his loyalties. The feature film debut of English born Ana Lily Amirpour is a mesmerizing curiosity. Set in a desolate Iranian city and spoken in Farsi, it was actually filmed in Southern California. The razor sharp B&W cinematography (beautifully shot and lit by Lyle Vincent) gives the film an eerie isolated atmosphere and atmosphere is really what the film is all about. Dialogue is at a minimum and the narrative while unusual (vampires in Iran?) seems merely a hook to which Amirpour can spin her dark romantic web ... which she does beautifully. I can't wait to see what she does next. With Mozhan Marno, Rome Shadanloo, Milad Eghbali and Masuka the cat who is as important a character as the human cast.