|
Every once in a while, a movie comes out whose genre can only be described with a phrase you never thought you’d hear, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is one of those films. It’s a Persian-language vampire western, and if you ask me, that alone is enough to make it worth a watch. However, if you’ve ever seen this unique piece of genre cinema, you know its unprecedented classification isn’t the only thing it has going for it.
The vampire in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night primarily stalks men who abuse and mistreat women, so in hardcore horror circles, the movie is renowned for its pro-woman message. But what’s not so well known is that this film isn’t just about abuse in general. The story homes in on a particular (and particularly heinous) form of exploitation that doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves, so let’s dive into this modern arthouse classic and see what important lessons we can learn from it. The Truth About Trafficking Let’s start by taking a close look at the vampire’s first victim, a drug dealer named Saeed. From the moment we meet this character, it’s clear that he’s a terrible person, but when A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night first introduces him, we don’t realize how evil he truly is. As the story goes on, we quickly find out that Saeed doesn’t just sell drugs. He also sells women. More specifically, he pimps a thirty-year-old woman named Atti, but you might not catch the extent of her exploitation right away. Atti isn’t chained to a bed and drugged out of her mind like the trafficking victims in Taken. She appears free to leave Saeed’s employ whenever she wants, but if you know anything about real-world sex trafficking, you know the truth is much more diabolical. See, this monstrous crime involves more than just kidnapping women and physically restraining them so they can’t leave. The legal definition of sex trafficking is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.” And when we understand Saeed and Atti’s relationship through that lens, it’s clear that their “business” relationship is far from consensual. Early on in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, we see these two characters in a car together after Atti’s “shift,” and almost everything Saeed does just screams sex trafficking. He takes all the money Atti made that night, and when she asks for her cut, he makes her perform a sex act on him first, beginning with sucking his finger (that admittedly odd detail will become important later on). Then, once she’s done, he still doesn’t give Atti her fair share of the profits. He says she’s “light” (in other words, she didn’t make enough money that night), and to shut her up, he throws the poor woman out of the car and yells, “Next time, you focus on your job. Understand? And quit your crying, hag!” It’s just one scene, but it’s enough to establish Saeed as a legit sex trafficker. For one, sexual demands and irrational fits of violent rage are typical of traffickers, and more importantly, the man’s horrible treatment of Atti fits the legal definition of the crime. At its core, this definition involves three elements–force, fraud, and coercion–and all three are present in this one scene. We see force when Saeed throws the woman out of the car, and when he yells at her to focus on her job, that’s coercion (the implication being that he’ll hurt her again if she doesn’t). Finally, refusing to give Atti her cut because she’s supposedly “light” is fraud, so this is about as clear-cut as it gets. Saeed is more than just an abusive employer. He’s a sex trafficker, so when the vampire kills him, she’s not simply feeding her inhuman thirst. She’s meting out some much-needed justice to this heinous criminal. Protecting an Exploited Woman And in case there’s any doubt about the bloodsucker’s motives, let’s look at a couple of scenes that hammer the point home. For starters, the creature watches Saeed and Atti’s car conversation from a distance, and almost immediately afterwards, she finds Saeed and lets him bring her back to his apartment. The cold-hearted pimp clearly thinks he’s going to have sex with this strange woman, and at first, the vampire plays along. She sucks his finger just like Atti did, but that’s where the game ends. Instead of ramping up the sensuality, she bites the guy’s finger off, and then she kills him. On the surface, this might seem like just another fun horror scene, but if we dig a bit deeper, we can see that it’s actually much more important than that. It’s no coincidence that the vampire starts the encounter the same way Atti did in the previous scene. She’s intentionally mirroring that interaction but reversing the power dynamics, so Saeed’s death is not-so-subtle payback for all the abuse he’s doled out to Atti. Later on in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, there’s a moment when Atti and the vampire meet face to face, but it doesn’t play out the way you might expect. If this were a more typical bloodsucker, she probably wouldn’t think twice about feasting on Atti’s blood just like she did with Saeed. But that’s not what happens. Instead, the creature makes a comment about the emotional scars Saeed’s abuse has left on the poor woman, and then she gives Atti a bunch of jewelry to make up for the money the pimp refused to pay her earlier in the film. Again, it’s clear that this vampire remembers Saeed and Atti’s conversation in the car, and she’s doing what she can to right the wrongs Saeed has inflicted on the woman. The Other Half of the Problem Last but not least, we have to talk about a scene that tackles the problem of sex trafficking from the other side. See, the people who sell women are only half of the problem. The other half are the men who pay to have sex with trafficked women (sometimes without even realizing the women are being trafficked!), and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night has something to say about them as well. We don’t get to see too many of Atti’s “clients,” but the one we do meet gets his just desserts. He’s a severe heroin addict named Hossein, and he interacts with Atti twice in the movie. Both times, the vampire lies close at hand, watching and protecting the vulnerable woman, and the second time, she makes her deadly presence felt. Hossein buys some time with Atti (like many sex trafficking victims, she’s so emotionally and psychologically scarred she finds it hard to leave the life even after her pimp dies), and at first, he just wants the woman to do a sensual dance for him. But as you might be able to guess, he soon demands more than that. He tells Atti to do heroin with him, and when she refuses, he holds her down and forcibly injects her with the drug. To be fair, that’s not the normal abuse trafficked women tend to experience, but the scene is filmed in such a way that it initially looks like Hossein is going to rape the poor woman. It’s a horrific moment that makes for a nearly perfect allegory for the forced sexual encounters trafficking victims have to endure day in and day out, so it’s no surprise that the vampire swoops in and kills Hossein almost immediately after he sticks the needle in. She’s clearly looking out for Atti, and she seems to have a special concern for the various ways this poor woman is abused and exploited as a victim of sex trafficking. Fighting the Good Fight Once we understand all that, it becomes clear that A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night isn’t just about the mistreatment of women in general. It’s about sex trafficking, a crime that overwhelmingly targets women and girls, and as Catholics, we can’t turn a blind eye to this heinous sin. Granted, most of us will never rescue a trafficking victim or lead a raid on an underground trafficking ring, but we all have a role to play in this fight. We can all help build up a culture that recognizes the dignity of women and refuses to reduce them to objects for men’s selfish pleasure, and if every Catholic in the world did their part, buying and selling women wouldn’t just be illegal. It would be unthinkable.
0 Comments
Death of a Unicorn has been on my to-watch list from the moment I first got wind of it. Even before I knew what the movie was about, the name alone caught my attention, and when I learned it was a horror comedy, that sealed the deal for me. I’m a huge horror fan, and I love it when filmmakers mix their scares with laughs, so I just had to check this film out. I bought a ticket for opening weekend as soon as I got the chance, and now that I’ve finally seen the movie, I’m happy to report that it’s pretty fun.
Death of a Unicorn was written and directed by Alex Scharfman, and it stars Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant. In the film, Elliot is a widower struggling to connect with his teenage daughter, Ridley. He hopes their upcoming trip to his boss’s estate will give them a chance to reconnect a bit, but he ends up getting a lot more than he bargained for. On the drive to the estate, they hit a baby unicorn with their car, and since they’re more or less in the middle of nowhere, they bring the carcass with them. When they arrive, Elliot’s boss and his family perform experiments on the creature in hopes of capitalizing on its magical abilities, and not long after they begin, the unicorn’s parents arrive and wreak bloody havoc in search of their child. Like a lot of horror comedies, Death of a Unicorn doesn’t blend its two genres quite as seamlessly as I would’ve liked. It almost feels like two movies fused together, and unfortunately, only one of them fully works. Let’s begin with the comedy. Most obviously, Paul Rudd plays Elliot, and he’s…well, he’s Paul Rudd. He basically just rehashes the same schtick we’ve seen him do a million times before, and in my opinion, it never gets old. Even when the guy isn’t cracking jokes, he exudes an irresistible charm that makes his character instantly likable, and of course, when he goes for laughs, he gets them. Granted, I wouldn’t quite say he had me in stitches, but he elicited a number of audible chuckles from me throughout the film. In contrast, Elliot’s boss and his family feel like worn-out cliches. They’re the kind of arrogant, greedy people satirized in just about every “eat the rich” story ever made, and unlike Paul Rudd’s typical routine, these stereotypes got old a long time ago. To be fair, they have a couple of funny moments here and there, but on the whole, when this family takes center stage, the film really drags. There was even a time in the first half when I thought they were going to ruin the entire experience, but thankfully, Death of a Unicorn finds its footing again at around the midway point. The tone quickly shifts from mostly comedy to mostly horror, and to my surprise, the movie ends up being a real blast. You might not love it if you’re not a huge fan of creature features, but if you enjoy this brand of terror, you’re going to have a great time seeing these unicorns rip through their (mostly) helpless victims. Writer/director Alex Scharfman absolutely nails the tension, suspense, and action that monster movie fans crave, and he imbues the kills with the kind of gore you’d expect to see from creatures that literally have razor-sharp blades sticking out of their heads. On top of that great fun, the second half of Death of a Unicorn also has some genuine emotional and thematic substance. For starters, Elliot’s boss and his family clearly don’t care who or what they have to hurt to put more money in their pockets, so the unicorn attacks carry a sense of justice you don’t always get in this subgenre. What’s more, this ordeal finally allows Elliot and Ridley to reconnect, and their dynamic is genuinely touching. In particular, seeing Ridley go from angsty teen to loving daughter will almost certainly warm your heart, and that’s largely due to Jenna Ortega’s great performance. Ortega totally nails every emotional beat her character experiences, so even though Ridley’s journey doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, you’ll still be right there with her every step of the way. My one knock on the second half of Death of a Unicorn is the visual effects. The unicorns are brought to life with a mix of practical effects and CGI, and when the monsters are digital, they don’t look great. It almost feels like they were rendered with VFX software from 2015, so when you see these creatures in all their “glory” (and I use that term very loosely), it’s painfully obvious that they were made in a computer. That being said, I don't quite think the CGI unicorns are distractingly bad. They definitely don’t add to the experience the way, say, the apes in the recent Planet of the Apes films do, but as long as you know to temper your expectations, you shouldn’t have any problem suspending disbelief when these monsters appear on screen. All in all, I had a pretty good time with Death of a Unicorn. Sure, this isn’t a great movie, and it’s not going to end up on my top-ten list come December, but it’s a fun creature feature with some effective comedy and just enough thematic substance to elevate it above its lesser cinematic peers. I probably wouldn't recommend the film to non-horror fans, but if this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I suggest giving it a watch. When you sit down to watch a Jason Statham movie, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. You’re going to see Statham’s signature charm, you’re going to see him beat up a whole bunch of bad guys, and…well, that’s pretty much it. As much as I love the guy, his filmography isn’t exactly packed with Oscar winners. In fact, a lot of his films are forgettably generic at best, so I didn’t have terribly high hopes for his latest flick, A Working Man. Sure, I figured the action would be fun, but I had my doubts about the story. Nevertheless, as a big action fan, I decided to roll the dice and give this movie a shot anyway, so I bought a ticket for opening weekend and hoped for the best.
A Working Man was directed and co-written by David Ayer, and it stars Jason Statham, Michael Peña, and David Harbour. In the film, Levon Cade is a former Royal Marine Commando who now leads a peaceful life as the head of a construction team. He doesn’t have much use for his combat skills these days, but that all changes when his boss’s teenage daughter is kidnapped by a dangerous gang of human traffickers. This horrible turn of events compels Levon to unleash his inner Liam Neeson and go after the bad guys who’ve (pardon the pun) taken the poor girl, and as I’m sure you can guess, a whole lot of mayhem ensues. On paper, that sounds like a decent-enough premise for a Jason Statham flick, but unfortunately, the execution isn’t up to par. Like I expected, the action in A Working Man is pretty good, but the setup is so bad it kills the fun before it even starts. The first act briefly touches on the major points we need to know to understand the story, but it stubbornly refuses to do anything more than the absolute bare minimum. It gives us just enough that we know what’s going on, but it’s nowhere near enough to make us like these characters or care about their plight. For instance, there’s a moment when Levon gets to show off his world-class fighting skills before things really go south, and it’s one of the laziest scenes I’ve seen in a while. A group of nondescript hoodlums show up at his construction site to rough up one of his workers, and of course, Levon intervenes and saves the day. He fights off the entire clique all by himself, so there’s no doubt in our minds that he really is the toughest guy in this movie. But there’s just one problem. A Working Man doesn’t bother to explain who these people are or why they’re there. We have no idea what they want with this poor construction worker, so the scene has no narrative weight to it. It’s about as emotionally affecting as a random fight clip on YouTube, so it does nothing to get us invested in these characters or their story. To take another example, the scene where Levon’s boss asks him to rescue his kidnapped daughter plays out in a fairly cliched fashion. At first Levon refuses because he’s left the action hero life behind, but almost immediately afterwards, he changes his mind. It’s the kind of way-too-fast 180 we’ve seen a million times before, but surprisingly, that’s not the worst thing about it. See, Levon has a little girl himself, so when he declines to save his boss’s daughter, we think he’s going to see his own kid and realize how much pain his boss must be in. But that’s not what happens. Instead, Levon goes to visit an old friend of his, and after a conversation the camera mostly skips over, he agrees to take the job. There’s no back and forth discussion, no grappling with the ramifications of his decision, and certainly no compelling drama driving the change. He just decides to say yes, and that’s it. It’s even lazier than the construction site fight scene, so if you care about competent storytelling at all, this amateurish writing is going to make you roll your eyes so hard they might not roll back. To be fair, nothing else in the opening act of A Working Man is quite as bad as those two moments, but none of it is particularly good either. This part of the film feels like it’s just mechanically speeding through a checklist of points it has to hit, so by the time Levon set out on his quest, I had already checked out emotionally. I simply couldn’t bring myself to care about what was happening on screen, so it didn’t matter how good the action was. With no emotional weight behind them, even the best fights in the world will feel like little more than visual noise, and that’s exactly what happens here. Like I said before, A Working Man kills the fun before it even gets started, and not even Jason Statham’s signature charm can salvage it. The inept setup alone makes this one of the worst movies of the year so far, so if you’re in the mood to watch an action hero mete out some much-needed justice, don’t waste your time with this film. Just go back and watch John Wick again. |
Jp Nunezis a longtime film buff and theology nerd with master's degrees in theology and philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville. His favorite movie genres are horror, superheroes, and giant monsters. Archives
April 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed