oscar jubis
11-12-2007, 08:31 PM
Gus Van Sant's feature debut was completed in 1985 and finally released in a few markets in 1988. Mala Noche was shown at Cannes and had a theatrical release in France last year. The film was revived in the States this year and is now available on a director-approved Criterion dvd. I watched it for the first time in the late 1980s at the defunct Alliance Cinema on South Beach_before that filmmakers' co-operative was driven out of Lincoln Road by exorbitant rent increases.
Van Sant's low-budget tale of white, convenience-store clerk Walt's pursuit of an undocumented Mexican teen was a pure example of the alternative DIY ethos and a landmark of what was called New Queer Cinema. I celebrated the film as the calling card of a promising new director, and as a celebration of gay lust absent from mainstream art. Van Sant's lack of experience was obvious in spots, particularly during a poorly edited scene involving a shooting_in general the editing, with abundant short takes, is rather pedestrian. It was somewhat endearing though, amidst all the elaborate Hollywood slickness in commercial movies. I felt less forgiving about Van Sant casting a guy who didn't speak Spanish in the role of Johnny, a recently arrived Mexican teen who speaks nothing but Spanish. The casting required Van Sant to postsynchronize the dialogue and the illusion of realism is sometimes shattered by it.
Technical flaws aside, I appreciated the use of Portland's skid row locales, the beautiful, high contrast b&w photography by John Campbell, the freshness of the mise-en-scene, the frankness with which sexual desire is portrayed, the avoidance of plot contrivance, the naturalistic dialogue and unaffected performances. These attributes still register twenty years later.
However, now (after a second viewing) I am much more conscious of how certain aspects of plot and characterization are problematic. Walt basically regards Johnny as a sex object made more desirable because of his youth (he keeps repeating Johnny can't possibly be 18, as he claims), and ethnicity. Walt's objectification of Johnny is made more problematic by Johnny being an outcast_he is dirt-poor, illegal, unable to speak English, and possibly selling drugs. Is Walt's seeming awareness of his priviledged position vis-a-vis Johnny enough to counterbalance his presumptuous come-ons and his exercise of power? Probably not. Van Sant, a mostly apolitical filmmaker, doesn't begin to examine the inherent ethnic and class issues. Critic Armond White wrote in his 2007 review of Mala Noche: "the political incorrectedness seemed uninhibited, now it stinks of race and class indifference". It's something the thoughtful viewer must consider. Something that merits discussion.
Van Sant's low-budget tale of white, convenience-store clerk Walt's pursuit of an undocumented Mexican teen was a pure example of the alternative DIY ethos and a landmark of what was called New Queer Cinema. I celebrated the film as the calling card of a promising new director, and as a celebration of gay lust absent from mainstream art. Van Sant's lack of experience was obvious in spots, particularly during a poorly edited scene involving a shooting_in general the editing, with abundant short takes, is rather pedestrian. It was somewhat endearing though, amidst all the elaborate Hollywood slickness in commercial movies. I felt less forgiving about Van Sant casting a guy who didn't speak Spanish in the role of Johnny, a recently arrived Mexican teen who speaks nothing but Spanish. The casting required Van Sant to postsynchronize the dialogue and the illusion of realism is sometimes shattered by it.
Technical flaws aside, I appreciated the use of Portland's skid row locales, the beautiful, high contrast b&w photography by John Campbell, the freshness of the mise-en-scene, the frankness with which sexual desire is portrayed, the avoidance of plot contrivance, the naturalistic dialogue and unaffected performances. These attributes still register twenty years later.
However, now (after a second viewing) I am much more conscious of how certain aspects of plot and characterization are problematic. Walt basically regards Johnny as a sex object made more desirable because of his youth (he keeps repeating Johnny can't possibly be 18, as he claims), and ethnicity. Walt's objectification of Johnny is made more problematic by Johnny being an outcast_he is dirt-poor, illegal, unable to speak English, and possibly selling drugs. Is Walt's seeming awareness of his priviledged position vis-a-vis Johnny enough to counterbalance his presumptuous come-ons and his exercise of power? Probably not. Van Sant, a mostly apolitical filmmaker, doesn't begin to examine the inherent ethnic and class issues. Critic Armond White wrote in his 2007 review of Mala Noche: "the political incorrectedness seemed uninhibited, now it stinks of race and class indifference". It's something the thoughtful viewer must consider. Something that merits discussion.