Mala Noche

Walt, who works in a corner store in Portland, falls for Johnny, a young man from Mexico. Johnny is not interested; his friend Roberto comes between them. Everything in it is unbalanced: age, language, money, race and sex. It is Gus Van Sant's first feature, from Walt Curtis's semi-autobiographical novel. It was shot in black and white on 16mm for 25,000 dollars. It runs 78 minutes, with dialogue in English and Spanish. The story lands somewhere when Roberto is shot dead by police, and that passage changes the register of the whole film. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 96 percent, with critics calling it a raw and gritty portrait of desire, doomed romance and rejection, and praising Van Sant's gratifyingly personal touch on a first film. The Criterion Collection released it on DVD in October 2007. Who it is for: viewers curious about eighties American independent cinema and low-budget first features. Who it is not for: anyone wanting technical polish. The film looks rough throughout, and some of that roughness comes straight from the budget.