Mala Noche

'Mala Noche': is it just me, or do these words sound beautiful together? As a native Portuguese speaker (English is my second language), it's funny for me to realize that those beautiful-sounding words mean, plainly, "bad night". I guess Gus Van Sant also thought they sounded much nicer in Spanish, and didn't call his debut film "Bad Night".

"Mala Noche" is based on an autobiographical novel by Walt Curtis (played by Tim Streeter), the young manager of a liquor store who falls in love with a Mexican lad (Doug Cooyeate), an illegal immigrant who doesn't speak English. Shot in black-and-white 16MM for only $25,000, the film lacks the wholesomeness of Van Sant's following movies, more notably his masterpiece, "My Own Private Idaho" (1991). The acting varies from mediocre (Streeter) to plain bad (Cooyeate and most of the supporting cast), but in spite of the below par actors and the extremely low budget, Van Sant managed to create some beautiful scenes, already demonstrating his raw sense of street-life poetry. Creighton Lindsay is responsible for a sensitive music score. In spite of its flaws, "Mala Noche" deserves to be seen by those who admire the work of one of the most influential and daring American indie filmmakers. 8/10.