Gus Van Sant is one of those directors who was always openly gay, but despite never excluding homosexuality form his movies, he never let but a few of his films being categorized under queer cinema. Mala Noche is Van Sant’s 1985 debut that really put him on the map of independant american cinema.
The story follows a huge love crush. Walt is madly in love with a young illegal Mexican immigrant. “I wanna show this Mexican kid that I’m gay for him”, describes in his intimate diary. On the same time the object of his unrequited affection doesn’t even speak any English and finds Walt really strange and undesirable. Walt tries to satisfy Johhny and his friend Roberto “Pepper” in an almost unconditional way and the film follows the hours they spend together, as their relationships turn from friends, to lovers, to both ways exploitation. Feelings and lust is confused…
You can say this is a diary of passion, as we watch Walt ready to do anything in order to be around Johnny. You can say that Walt is pathetic at times and that the two boys take advantage of him. On the other hand the whole story hides a certain inocense by both parts. Walt seems happy enough just by being with the kids, while the kids just try to enjoy some moments of joy, in their tough lives. In a very wonderfully cinmeatographed way homosexuality’s complexity somes to life, in a very simple film that never tries to do anynthing more than tell a story.
Despite not really be taken away by the story itself, as it was too hard for me to understand why Walt was so much attracted to Johnny, I have to admit that the beautiful imagery and the familiar Van Sant style really made me stay to the end. The play with the shadows, the way he films Walt and the boys, shows how well crafted the film is, despite the minimum of the media it had. As the titles rolled I had this strange feeling of having lived Walt’s story, I could understand his “pathetic” choices, I could understand the two Mexican boys who took advantage of Walt’s offer.
On one hand you can say that the film is not for everyone to watch, as it includes some elements that characterize all the personal works of Van Sant, as Gerry, Elephant or Last Days. It is this calm, slow, lazy rhythm, the pace of things that could hypnotize some and lead them along the way. He also uses non-actors as he did in the previously mentioned films, mixing the borders between reality and fiction. Still most people will find it very tiring and boring. On the other hand it includes some wonderful images that have this magical effect on you. Surely it is hard to say that the film is my favourite or that I could watch it again and again completely, but still is one film that really manages to talk about homosexuality in a not so narcissistic way, or in a depressing way. It just put a story out there and really makes you feel that you watch a very real one, sincere and simple, like video recorded diary. If you love cinema, you should watch it just for the research, if you are looking for some soft porn scenes try another one, not everything under queer label will offer scenes for masturbation.
P.S. when I saw this Levi’s commercial i actually knew where my beloved director Michel Gondry had his inspiration. It has so many common elements of the whole atmosphere
