Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

bandw I watched this movie since I have liked van Sant's more mainstream movies such as "Good Will Hunting," and "Milk," but also some of his more experimental works like "Gerry," and "Paranoid Park." But this film left me cold; watching it could lead to your own Mala Noche.We are taken to the back-streets of Portland, Oregon to follow the life of Walt Curtis who mans a liquor store. Ultimately it seems that every sort of low life shows up in Walt's store. Early on a couple of Mexican immigrants, Johnny and Roberto, show up and Walt becomes sexually obsessed with the attractive Johnny. But Johnny doesn't really want to reciprocate and most of the movie is spent with Walt dreaming of scoring with Johnny. When Johnny disappears, Roberto is willing to fill in in a pinch. The major sex scene between Roberto and Walt *is* filmed with some delicacy, if you like that sort of thing.The low budget is quite in evidence in the harsh lighting and the shadowy backgrounds. Maybe this is art, but it simply resulted in eyestrain for me.So the film does say something about illegal immigration and how there are great pockets of sadness, poverty, and loneliness in the United States, but I already knew that and was not enlightened by spending an hour and a half seeing it illustrated. In fact this movie left me quite depressed.The script for the movie is based on a story by Walt Curtis. I could only make it about half way through the film about the real life Curtis that is included on the DVD. As this Alan Ginsberg wannabe ranted on I became more and more disgusted with him, and with the film. Final opinion: ugh.

RainDogJr Some time ago, like two years ago to be more or less exact, I was into the films of director Gus Van Sant. I got to see a few of his, not counting his latest film Milk that was released just last year, 12 feature films. I got to see Drugstore Cowboy, Finding Forrester, Elephant (my favourite of him so far), Last Days and Paranoid Park. As I often remark in my IMDb comments, I'm one of the fans of the truly amazing Criterion Collection and two Van Sant films are part of the collection, two of his first ones: Mala Noche (his very first one, released in 1985) and My Own Private Idaho (released back in 1991, two years after the release of Drugstore Cowboy). It was about time to finally check out the Criterion Van Sant titles and while not on the Criterion DVD today I saw Mala Noche (and I will renting as soon as I can the Criterion DVD of My Own Private Idaho, which is one of the most acclaimed films of Van Sant. And by the way, if you go to the website of Criterion you will find the lists of favourite Criterion titles of people like Richard Linklater, John Lurie,. "Idaho"is part of the list of Steve Buscemi, James Franco, so is more acclaim, more for me to finally check out that 1991 film).

BandofInsiders As the stagnant state of films in the 1980's was still in its inevitable decline the emergence of a new breed of American independent directors saw this as a moment full of opportunity. Gus Van Sant decided to turn his camera on the outcasts of a small Portland neighborhood and create an intimate portrait of 3 young men at an important turning point in their lives. Not only is Mala Noche an influential example of 1980's independent cinema it also serves as a milestone for the New Queer Cinema that would become more prevalent in the 1990's. Gus Van Sant's stark debut would serve as a blueprint for many directors to come. Mala Noche focuses on convenience store worker Walt's and his infatuation with a young immigrant Jonny who is fresh off riding the rails from Mexico with his friend Pepper. From the film's first scene its unabashed open "gayness" lets the viewer know what they are in for. Van Sant makes no attempt to justify his films openly gay stance instead he embraces it and explores the beauty and darkness that accompany it. Walt and Johnny coexist solely based on their parasitic relationship. Walt gushes romanticized convictions for a boy he knows little about, such as "I want to drink this Mexican boy" or "I have to show him that I'm gay for him." While Johnny uses Walt for a house to crash and the occasional joy ride in his car. At the same time both are uncomfortable with their personal situation but can't help to hold on to what they have left.John Campbell's bleak camera work adds a lot to the look of the seedy underbelly of Portland almost as if it could have been shot as a documentary. Mala Noche is one the few films that benefits from working on such a small budget. It gives the viewer a sense that Van Sant was truly in touch on a deeper level with his subjects than just an "actor/director" level. Ultimately Mala Noche is a profound representation of America's emerging "gay" cinema and an important document of Portland in the mid 1980's. Gus Van Sant would go onto make stronger films but this fascinating debut will show he has shown a strong passion for his films and his subjects right from the beginning.

preppy-3 No budget film about a young man heavily attracted to some Mexican teenagers in Portland OR in 1977.The film is in black & white, the sound is (at times) incomprehensible and some of the acting is pretty bad. Also it has more than it's share of boring moments and no real ending. Still, it sticks with you.I originally saw the film in 1990 at a film festival. I was very impressed but it wasn't available in any form. A lot of the scenes were still fresh in my mind and the acting by Tim Streeter was superb. It was until this year (2002), that I was able to see it again and that's only because the director allowed his own private print to be shown.I still liked it a lot, but I had forgotten how bad the actors playing Mexicans were, and that there was really no ending. Still, the direction is great (very impressive considering the lack of budget) and , when it worked, it was fascinating. However it is very bleak and the subject matter may bother some people. Well worth catching...if you can.