Episode 119 - Gus Van Sant’s Mala Noche

Podcast: Download (33.7MB)

This week on the podcast, Ryan, James, and Travis conclude their month of “romance” films in the Criterion Collection by discussing Gus Van Sant’s 1985 film, Mala Noche.

They also discuss a new film start-up called Tugg, the prospect of losing independent theaters in the great shift to digital, some follow up from last week, as well as some big changes going forward.

Film discussion begins at 25:23

About the film:

With its low budget and lush black-and-white imagery, Gus Van Sant’s debut feature Mala Noche heralded an idiosyncratic, provocative new voice in American independent film. Set in Van Sant’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, the film evokes a world of transient workers, dead-end day-shifters, and bars and seedy apartments bathed in a profound nighttime, as it follows a romantic deadbeat with a wayward crush on a handsome Mexican immigrant. Mala Noche was an important prelude to the New Queer Cinema of the nineties and is a fascinating capsule from a time and place that continues to haunt its director’s work.

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