Of the many great breakthroughs in cinema this year, one near the top is the directorial talent of Ana Lily Amirpour, whose Iranian vampire western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night recently hit theaters. To go alongside the release, VICE has crafted a 20-minute documentary that goes behind the making of the film. Elijah Wood (who produced it through his Spectrevision company) also takes part, discussing how he came aboard the project, comparisons to Wong Kar-wai‘s In the Mood for Love, and much more. Meanwhile, Amirpour discusses her “hero” David Lynch (and his one film that greatly influenced her feature), the history of the character, and more.
We said in our review, “Sometimes cinema’s depiction of vampires feels stuck in the Victorian era, with a dangerously seductive Dracula-type awakening equally dangerous sexual desire in his exclusively female victims. (Twilight, despite Stephenie Meyer’s admittance that she’s never read Bram Stoker’s original novel, still easily fits the mold.) A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a challenge to our preconceptions of vampire cinema and the type of films coming out of Iran. Its tale is set in an industrial Gothic landscape dominated by the smokestacks and oil-drilling rigs of a nearby power plant; its protagonist is a James Dean lookalike with leather jacket and classic car; and it’s shot on anamorphic lenses in black and white, resulting in some incredible lens flares.”
Check out the two-part, 20-minute documentary below and make sure to seek out the film if it’s playing near you:
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is now in limited release.