Apr 102014
 
three reels

In a Middle Eastern town, perhaps named Bad City or perhaps not, Arash (Arash Marandi) lives with his junkie father (Marshall Manesh) and works as a handyman, and perhaps middleman drug dealer. The main dealer and pimp (Dominic Rains) is coming down hard on him for his fatherā€™s debts, and takes the one thing that he owns, his car. To get it back, Arash steals jewelry from the daughter (Rome Shadanloo) of the rich people he works for. But his plans, as well as those of the pimp, go out the window when he crosses paths with a vampire (Sheila Vand) who prowls the streets at night.

Filmed in California with the characters speaking Farsi, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night has been called a Noir, feminist, romantic, western, vampire flick, influenced by ā€˜50s youth cinema and the Iranian New Wave and taking on the systematic inequality of Iranian society, which I find odd as it is not most of those things. Sure, Arash has a James Dean feel about him and the picture does look like the Iranian short films that have been submitted to me over the last decade, but thereā€™s nothing Noir here, and itā€™s about as unromantic a film as you can get. Also, having oil wells does not make something a western.

While it can stake a claim toward being feminist, I wouldnā€™t point toward this as an examination of womenā€™s power in Iran. There are essentially 7 characters. Of the 3 women, one is a prostitute (at the bottom rung of society), one is a rich socialite (the most free and happy character in the film), and one is a vampire. Of the males, one is a street urchin (bottom rung), one a junkie (bottom rung), one a poor day laborer (bottom rung) and one a pimp (slightly higher). And thatā€™s pretty much everyone. As thatā€™s all there is to go by, it seems the real power is in the womenā€™s hands. The vampire does have a habit of punishing men who misbehave toward women, but she also murders the homeless, so not even a power-fantasy.

It is accurate to say itā€™s a vampire movie. Beyond that, itā€™s really about personal longing and despair. Itā€™s a Bruce Springsteen song brought to life, minus the song. Our main characters are young, with no future. They live in a nowhere town, with nowhere jobs. Itā€™s empty and hopeless. Arash doesnā€™t know what he wants; he just wants something. The Girl, as thatā€™s the only name the vampire is given, seems to be as lost, although thereā€™s no way to tell if sheā€™s a youth who canā€™t see any possibilities, or a thousand-year-old who has long since given up. The focus is on their despondency, and on the dreary world they inhabit. And it is empty in multiple ways as the city is nearly devoid of humans. No one walks or drives the streets by day, and by night they belong to The Girl. One could claim that the movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where all but a few have died from an unspecified plague and nothing would contradict that.

All that sounds depressing, and itā€™s true the film isnā€™t uplifting or a laugh-fest, but it isnā€™t a gloomy watching experience either. Partly thatā€™s due to the dream-like feeling of it, but mostly itā€™s The Girl. A beautiful, never-smiling young woman, in a hip striped shirt and covered with a Chador, stalking the few people that exist or skateboarding down the middle of the road, makes for wonderful images. Sheā€™s one of the great vampires, at least in design, and I can see her as the daughter or granddaughter of Lugosiā€™s Dracula.

Itā€™s good that The Girl is such a powerful sight, and the atmosphere is so strong, as those have to do all the heavy lifting; there is barely a plot and the characters are thinly drawn. Little happens and nothing is settled. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night doesnā€™t exist to tell a story, but just to let you feel a nihilistic dream for a while. Iā€™d have liked it to do more, but itā€™s enough.

Apr 092014
 
one reel

In 1999, a Japanese nuclear reaction accident, tied to the discovery of giant monster fossils in The Philippines, killed nuclear engineer Joe Brodyā€™s (Bryan Cranston) wife. Now, Brody is obsessed with discovering the secret of what really happened, a secret that involves a giant monster known as a MUTO. Brodyā€™s son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) gets dragged into his fatherā€™s hunt, which puts him in contact with Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), who has a zealotā€™s faith that the answer to their giant monster problem is another giant monster, the mysterious Godzilla.

With the many complaints from fans that the 1998 American Godzilla film was not enough like Godzilla, director Gareth Edwards and company wanted to make a movie that was heavily influenced by the Japanese productions. Thatā€™s a good thingā€¦ Right?

It is, isnā€™t it?

Original Godzilla flavor? Isnā€™t that good?

Sigh.

No, itā€™s not good.

Thereā€™s so much that is fantastic in the old Godzilla tales. The majesty. The fear. The deep themes. The exploration of what it is like to live in the aftermath of nuclear destruction from the only people who know. The complex characters of the 1954 film. The fun adventure of Godzilla verses Mothra. Thereā€™s a lot to grab on to. But none of that got pulled into Godzilla 2014. Edwards even made a point of ignoring the first masterpiece. His movie was going to be like the later Godzilla verses X movies.

So, what did influence them? Well, we get monsters that look like they are men in suits. We get superfluous humans characters who have no effect on anything. We spend a lot of time watching them watch screens. The military runs around a lot and shoots at the monsters but it never matters and we know it isnā€™t going to matter. We get characters making religious speeches or vague statements about Godzilla. We even get a Kenny (a Japanese trope of a small child that we are supposed to think is cute who ends up in the middle of the action).

The older Japanese movies spent a huge amount of time with unimportant human side plots because it was cheap. I have no idea what Edwardsā€™s excuse is. Taylor-Johnsonā€™s Ford Brody is as bland as bland can be. He follows along, always near the action and it is pointless. He doesnā€™t matter. Heā€™s a void of personality, sucking emotion out of every scene. And thereā€™s a lot of scenes with him. But I was more annoyed at the waste of Ken Watanabe. Maybe he was drunk. He looked it. He stands around and mutters that Godzilla will save us all. No one would listen to someone like that, and while in the film, they do listen, they then ignore him. So why is he in the movie?

ā€œYes,ā€ You say, ā€œBut what about Godzilla? Thatā€™s what we are here for.ā€ Well, Iā€™m not. Iā€™m here for a good plot, meaningful themes, and interesting characters. But OK, Iā€™m not getting those, so, what about the monster? Look elsewhere. Godzilla doesnā€™t get a lot of screen time in this Godzilla movie. You get his back plates. And you get his foot. You get a few rear shots. But full on clear frames of Godzilla? Maybe thirty seconds worth. The rest of the time you get fog and darkness. San Francisco is really foggy. Yes, yes, it is supposed to be dust from the destruction. It doesnā€™t matter what it is. What it does is hide the fighting monsters. As for the MUTOs, who are also often hidden in fog and darkness, they get a bit more screen time, but then they arenā€™t worth more time. For the 1970s, they look pretty good, but I canā€™t think of a modern film that doesnā€™t have better looking critters.

Godzilla is a case of Hollywood learning the wrong lessons from the past.

It is connected to Kong: Skull Island as well as the still-in-production Godzilla King of the Monsters and King Kong Verses Godzilla.

For my reviews of the Japanese films, go to my Godzilla page.