Plot Summary
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.
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
95%- Reviews Counted: 21
- Fresh: 20
- Rotten: 1
- Average Rating: 7.7/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: A very well-made movie, terse and to the point, nicely photographed by John Campbell and written and directed by Mr. Van Sant with sardonic humor.
Fresh: Underseen but not exactly neglected, Mala Noche isn't in the same league as the recent smash IFC revival of Killer of Sheep. But this small, sensitive, wondrously likable debut occupies a nearby nook in the DIY pantheon.
Fresh: Of all Van Sant's movies, Mala Noche is the rawest, most personal, and least freighted. It's the one fans should see for the simplest inkling into Van Sant's complex artistic roots.
Fresh: This is a knockout debut.
Customer Reviews
Don't waste your money
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, a movie -- like several other movies -- that makes me take caution before buying any "Criterion Collection" movies.
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