Director – Gus Van Sant
Cast - Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate and Ray Monge
After many years making short films Gus Van Sant took his first step into features with Mala Noche. This was 23 years ago and while showing signs of age and it's $25,000 budget it is still identifiably a Van Sant film.
The story is based upon a portion of Walt Curtis' autobiography. Lonesome and unappreciated Walt finds himself becoming increasingly fixated upon one of two young men who have drifted in from Mexico. This is about all the story that there is as Van Sant, typically, expands more energy examining the unrequited desire between Walt and his drifter. Van Sant enthusiasts will observe the many buds here that bloom in his later work in particular the tender pain of an obsession not returned (My Own Private Idaho) and his portrait of the American underbelly (Drugstore Cowboy). The scenes where there is no plot development and where few words are spoken show that even in his early work Van Sant is never in any hurry and is much more interested in mood and tone and character.
Scenes fade in and out and we are left wondering what may have happened just before we arrived and what may have happened after the scene has faded. Maybe this is a conscious thing to empathise with the life of the drifters, maybe it's a device to highlight life's constant flow or maybe simply a way of creating atmosphere.
This is very definitely an indie film, an ode to a marginalized strand of society and quite obviously from the heart. Whether it is entertaining is questionable and while it is less than 80 minutes in total it somehow manages to feel longer. The rawness of the production and the poor performances do not always make this enjoyable viewing but this will definitely appeal to Van Sent completists.
Cast - Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate and Ray Monge
After many years making short films Gus Van Sant took his first step into features with Mala Noche. This was 23 years ago and while showing signs of age and it's $25,000 budget it is still identifiably a Van Sant film.
The story is based upon a portion of Walt Curtis' autobiography. Lonesome and unappreciated Walt finds himself becoming increasingly fixated upon one of two young men who have drifted in from Mexico. This is about all the story that there is as Van Sant, typically, expands more energy examining the unrequited desire between Walt and his drifter. Van Sant enthusiasts will observe the many buds here that bloom in his later work in particular the tender pain of an obsession not returned (My Own Private Idaho) and his portrait of the American underbelly (Drugstore Cowboy). The scenes where there is no plot development and where few words are spoken show that even in his early work Van Sant is never in any hurry and is much more interested in mood and tone and character.
Scenes fade in and out and we are left wondering what may have happened just before we arrived and what may have happened after the scene has faded. Maybe this is a conscious thing to empathise with the life of the drifters, maybe it's a device to highlight life's constant flow or maybe simply a way of creating atmosphere.
This is very definitely an indie film, an ode to a marginalized strand of society and quite obviously from the heart. Whether it is entertaining is questionable and while it is less than 80 minutes in total it somehow manages to feel longer. The rawness of the production and the poor performances do not always make this enjoyable viewing but this will definitely appeal to Van Sent completists.
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