MovieChat Forums > A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2015) Discussion > what´s so good about this movie ¿?

what´s so good about this movie ¿?


what do you think was the great thing about this movie ¿?

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The acting, the cinematography, the playfulness. Plus a new take on a vampire story.

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Excuse me, 'the playfulness', what playfulness?

And in what way was that a 'new take'?

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I'm sorry if you can't connect with what it's like to be young and beautiful and in a drug-fueled fantasy! Try to work it out in therapy.

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You don't sound sorry at all, in fact you sound condescending.

I can't 'connect' with arthouse nonsense, as it's on the whole pretentious garbage.

Sorry you pretend to like films to look 'cool' it's likely your age and something you will grow out of in time.

In ten years time you'll think you were an idiot for liking this...I promise.

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Lol! You sound old.

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I feel like saying that someone can't possibly like something you don't like is just silly, and delusional.
Just because a film can't connect with you, doesn't mean it can't connect with someone else.

Something can be arthouse and still enjoyable.
Gozu, The Reflecting Skin, Love Exposure, Pierrot Le Fou, Hardware, The Holy Mountain.
All films you would probably see as meandering hipster trash. Despite this, a lot of people, myself included, have a lot of love for them.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was a film i really enjoyed. I didn't pretend to enjoy it to appear interesting or edgy. I genuinely really liked the film. I thought it was interesting, and stood out as being particularly visually beautiful.

What exactly didn't you like about it?
Calling something 'pretentious' really doesn't mean much. It's usually the word people use instead of saying ''it was too artsy for me,'' which is fine by the way, just say that, instead of blaming the film.

There's nothing wrong with not liking a film, but it's a bit silly to blame the film for that, and call anyone else who likes it a liar.

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actually, calling something "pretentious" has a specific meaning, i.e., the thing affects a depth which it actually lacks, using superficial or contrived flourishes to give an appearance of complexity and novelty to the simple and banal.

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Indeed it does meant that...and that's precisely the way I used it.

All talk and no trousers this film.

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I'm going on 40 and I rather enjoyed the film. Not the best I've ever seen, but enjoyable nonetheless.

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I liked the black and white cinematography a lot. Also, the eerie atmosphere.

I didn't like the small subplot of the stolen drugs, as I thought that Saeed's providers wouldn't just let somebody else kill him and take his business.

I liked how silent the Girl is, and that she is morally and ethically aware of who she is killing. They are not random victims.

I liked the scenery, even the oil drilling machines. I didn't understand the dog roaming by. How is it possible that nobody - oil factory workers, a passerby, - realises that there is a body there? It is not as if Ashar has taken the trouble to bury it.

I liked the scene when Ashar is making the holes in the ears of the Girl so that she can wear the earrings.

I didn't like the train passing so close to the factory. It didn't look like there was a real railway there a second before. I wonder if there was a montage in this scene. I liked the ending. I hope that Atti can turn her life around.

All in all, I liked the film. There were some details I didn't like. For me, it didn't feel convoluted or slow. It reminded me of The Sixth Sense, which some people have told that it was very slow. I think that both these films have exactly the rhythm and pace that they should have.

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Thank you! I wanted to see this film due to all the great critics and cos I wanted to feel intellectual, I guess. All the time I kept thinking "is there an Iranian/female message I don't get?" I loved the black\white and slowness of it, but overall..... what the hell? Honestly, why is it praised so much? What am I missing out on? Am I too old or young? 😏

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hey Minx,
This movie is another example of a movie getting praise because of the desire to show good will toward anything even remotely watchable and kitsch from an area such as the near or far east.
The director is NOT IRANIAN by the way. She is straight up a privileged, European educated, hipster.
She has nothing to say. I've seen this before, just taking parts from "cool" films that one likes and throwing them in
to a movie. And why does some of these filmmakers who try too hard to be interesting always bring up David Lynch.
I hate to say it, but more than a many female "indie" filmmakers do this.
The word 'indie' is officially just a silly, trendy word now.
There's independent and then there's 'indie' hipster movies that aren't vital or substantive at all.
The idea of a vampire film created in Iran with an Iranian, female director and in black and white just really triggered a lot of good will, like me.
The emperor has no clothes. This movie is not a sum of its parts nor has anything to say so, all of the true cineastes out there who tell others to go watch Twilight on blurary - man, you are following a naked emperor with no clothes.

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The skateboard scene was pretty playful.

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The acting, the cinematography, the playfulness. Plus a new take on a vampire story.


I agree here, and it was surprising to see this in an "art film," which this definitely is. Great editing as well.

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When it was finally over, after having dragged on for a looooong 101 minutes.
Really boring, pretentious, artsy hipster masturbation material is what this is.


Too Old to Rock n Roll: Too Young to Die!

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That is...

But the emperor was in fact stark bollock naked.

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You sound like a Michael Bay/Adam Sandler fan.

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i didn't think people actually said this unironically

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You sound like a Michael Bay/Adam Sandler fan.


That's what you pretentious douchebags always say when someone doesn't like a pretentious arthouse movie. You try to make it sound like anyone that doesn't like boring crap is just 'too stupid to get it' but I find that the real morons are the people like you. Why do you like this movie? The plot? What plot? There's 30 minutes of plot stretched out to 140 minutes. The characters? What characters? No one does anything in the movie. They have no personalities. There's no arch to any of them. This is not a good movie, but douche nozzles like you will pretend it is just so you can act like your smart and sophisticated for liking a low budget, little known foreign film (which, ironically, isn't even really a foreign film). It's just an act so you can look down your nose at people but you're the idiot. There's no difference between a Michael Bay movie and a movie like this. They're both Style over Substance and they both appeal to idiots.

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This is not a good movie, but douche nozzles like you will pretend it is just so you can act like your smart and sophisticated for liking a low budget, little known foreign film. It's just an act so you can look down your nose at people but you're the idiot.

You just proved that indeed, you are an idiot.

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That's what you pretentious douchebags always say when someone doesn't like a pretentious arthouse movie. You try to make it sound like anyone that doesn't like boring crap is just 'too stupid to get it' but I find that the real morons are the people like you. Why do you like this movie? The plot? What plot? There's 30 minutes of plot stretched out to 140 minutes. The characters? What characters? No one does anything in the movie. They have no personalities. There's no arch to any of them. This is not a good movie, but douche nozzles like you will pretend it is just so you can act like your smart and sophisticated for liking a low budget, little known foreign film (which, ironically, isn't even really a foreign film). It's just an act so you can look down your nose at people but you're the idiot. There's no difference between a Michael Bay movie and a movie like this. They're both Style over Substance and they both appeal to idiots.



WELL SAID.

I'm an artist. I was an art student and have a BA in art. I hate Sandler. I hate Michael Bay. I didn't even like the Avengers movies. I'm not into retard action movies or gore.

But this movie.... Jesus Christ. You hit the nail on the head about the plot and characters. I really thought I'd like this movie. It seemed like exactly the kind of little movie I would appreciate. I was wrong.

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If someone finds a painting or sculpture to be aesthetically beautiful, a piece of music to be moving or even just catchy, or the flavors in a plate of food to be particularly delicious, people usually don't demand explanations for that, and they certainly don't spend time arguing that such opinions are wrong or ill-perceived.

For some reason, that's just the case with movies.

I really enjoyed this one. I watched it by myself on Netflix just last night before bed, and it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up this morning. For me it just had a spell running through it that I found mesmerizing...there were several scenes I rewound and immediately watched again just because the music and imagery and interaction of the characters struck a certain harmony that I happen to find very appealing on almost a purely gut level.

I'm not claiming to be blown away by the story, character development or themes, or whatever agenda the writer-director may have had...I just really dug the vibe. Is that ok?


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Absolutely it's okay, just don't try and tell me I didn't 'get it', like the young lady up there did...and yes I'm old...lol.

You can like it for the way it looks...I did...I just also wanted a plot and engaging characters to make me care about said plot.

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You have to realize that every film has certain things that it focuses on more. Most films have certain strengths and weaknesses as well.

Now I LOVED this movie, but I'll agree with you that the plot is one of its few weaknesses (although I didn't think the plot was that bad). As far as engaging characters... I don't know how the main character wasn't engaging to you, because I found her to be an incredibly interesting and deep character.

Now the things that this movie did so incredibly well... It had a great sense of tone and set up an incredibly moody atmosphere. It also utilized tension and release to great affect (That amazing charged scene between the vampire and the boy in her bedroom!) And of course... The Music was incredible and helped to create the atmosphere.

Of course everyone has their own taste, and these might not be things that you personally care about in films, but these are some of the reasons why critics and audiences loved this film.

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I watched my Blu-ray of A Girl Walks Home straight through. It’s fun. Not really a serious film. A comedy, mostly. A guy dressed as Dracula and a vampire in a chador on a skateboard? Trippy.

Much the film has the feeling of being a string of engaging vignettes, but they are mostly fun and sometimes touching to watch.

But from the spaghetti western lettering at the start straight through to the end, the film is a hoot, which is why I would give it a robust 8 out of 10 if I were a critic. But I’m not. I just like films.

Strip away the studio hype and high falutin' fan expectatons, and it's just fun.

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I agree, OP. I think people are distracted by the shiny and pretty fact that it is an original and creative IDEA - but let's get real here, aside from that and it having a nice/moody atmosphere and good cinematography, it really wasn't that mind-blowing - it fell flat. And went on far too long. It was simply alright and somewhat of a waste of a good idea.

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Arash Marandi!!!!!

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For me it is the look, sound and feel of the film. I agree with another that it was playful at times and funny.

I'm scared of the middle place between light and nowhere

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I first heard about this film a year or so ago when I was working at the time as a front desk receptionist at a college writing center. One of the mentors (that is what we called tutors there) was an older lady in her fifties. She told me she had seen this movie. I can't remember if she totally liked it though. But recently, that movie popped in my head and I wanted to check it out.

Anyway, I was happy to find out my public library had a DVD copy of the movie. I finally got the chance to watch it and you know what - I thought this was a very cool movie.

The black and white cinematography reminded me of something from German expressionism. I wonder if that was the director’s intention and she happened to be a fan to use that influence in the film.

The one scene that made me go, "Oh my gosh," has to be where the pimp gets his just desserts when he is murdered by the female vampire. It reminded me of the reaction I had when I was recently watching Blue Velvet during the scene where Isabella Rossellini is sexually tortured by Dennis Hopper. It's just that amount of grotesque but again, two very separate movies.

I liked how this film made me think and had me guessing how it would unfold. A part of me wondered if the film was going to end with Arash becoming a vampire so he could be with the female vampire. But I liked the film and how they left it open ended, making us think anything is possible. In Arash’s case, I’m sure he turned out alright – regardless.

I’m going to go ahead and say this is probably one of the best films of the decade so far. It’s bizarre, deep, intense, introspective, grotesque, mysterious, probing, and shocking but ultimately, a very tender film with a love story between the titular character and the male character, Arash, who reminded me of a much darker looking Marlon Brando or James Dean with his dark hair, white T-shirt, and Levi jeans.

Again, everyone is entitled to their opinion and film tastes are subjective. I'm just glad I finally took the time to see this movie.


I detest cheap sentiment.

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i liked the fact that the film works as a straight narrative. those with a loftier iq than me may have found some hidden metaphors, but i saw a human story of love and looking to the future with hope. it was also quite playful despite the subject matter...and i thought the cat was a delight.

edit: the soundtrack and cinematography were definitely a plus as well.


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