Gus Van Sant
Mala Noche

"I really love independent cinema. The problem is that today you still have to tie yourself to the big production houses and their perverse mechanisms. In some cases, you're exposed to the same script and style restrictions imposed on blockbusters". Words of Gus Van Sant.

When you scroll through the filmography of the American director, you tend to think that what he has stated is a way to justify making films that have little to do with his cinema, the kind you inevitably recognize. It might also be a matter of taste, but personally, I believe that feature films like "Elephant" are far better than the productions that allowed Van Sant to conquer Hollywood, like "Good Will Hunting" or "Finding Forrester". Not because I want to cling to the quirky idea that independent cinema has an artistic value superior to that of works with more visibility backed by the vast capital of major production houses, but because it is through independent films that the director has left a true imprint, managing not to remain static behind the camera but to be present in every sequence, transmitting his personality.

Today, there are few directors who know how to maintain their own style without stagnating in repetition. I would have been able to guess that the director of "Mala Noche" is Van Sant even without having read a guide, and not because I have divination abilities or because I'm an expert. The credit is all his. After working on some short films, most of which were adaptations of works by writer William Burroughs, Gus Van Sant came to his first feature film, this time based on the autobiographical story of Walter Curtis.

We are in Oregon, precisely Portland. Walt is a store clerk who falls in love with an underage Mexican immigrant, Johnny, who managed to cross the border together with other countrymen. The latter shows no interest in Walt despite the continuous pressures and the offer of money that could aid him. Almost as a reaction to the refusal, Walt ends up having a sexual relationship with Johnny’s friend, Pepper, who is actually uninterested in Walt from an emotional point of view while showing the intention of exploiting his help to improve his precarious condition. To improve relations, Walt decides to organize a car trip with the two, but his expectations will be betrayed by fate: Pepper is killed by the police, and Johnny escapes.

Once again, Van Sant proves not to be particularly attached to the plot despite dedicating himself to it with evident care. The strength of the American director's cinema lies in the characters. Already with "Elephant" and "Last Days," the success of the film is entirely entrusted to the psychological portrait of each member of the cast. Even in "Mala Noche," the director gives space to each character, avoiding having the work splinter in trying to analyze different points of view, but instead, manages to organize while preserving homogeneity. The film was shot on a budget of only $25,000, which in some cases would be used as a valid justification for coarseness, but not in this case. It is precisely the lack of considerable funds that required the renunciation of certain equipment, including lights, and indeed the work, made in black and white, places its peculiarity in the use of beams of light that literally cut the scene and that know how not to burden. Other noteworthy features are definitely the ability to recreate squalid atmospheres populated by vicious, malicious, disturbed, frustrated individuals and the idea of including footage shot by the protagonists themselves with an 8mm.

A film that anticipates much of Van Sant and does not disappoint. Compared to later works, "Mala Noche" does not keep you glued to the screen, falling in multiple spots where the director does not know how to properly balance the objectives and (not only financial) possibilities of a newcomer.