Guy B Mr. Van Sant, I just watched your film "Mala Noche" and I found it really sad and appalling that such a spectacular piece of art was so blatantly racist and bigoted. I was at first enthralled by the dark images and experimental camera work, style, and transitions. I loved the way you played with space on the screen- forcing the viewers to search for the flickers of light that would break up the pitch black- searching for information, letting oneself be guided by the narration to make sense of the powerful images. I liked how the camera, like the viewer, would slowly pan and search the space for meaning, finally resting on a subject and slowly revealing meaning. However, no matter how great a piece of art, it could never justify racism and bigoted statements. I was deeply offended how the character of your film would spit out these horrible statements like 'The Mexicans were stupid, that's why they were there on the corner looking for work,' just to mention one example. I was really upset not just by the bigoted statements of the main character, but also how the characters were displayed as buffoons; constantly making fools of themselves; with no real character depth. All characters of color in your film were portrayed as sub-humans who's purpose in life was merely as distractions to Walt, the intellectual and the only responsible, reasonable and cultured person in the film. To justify the racism of film by saying that your character Walt is the racist and you were just trying to portray the reality of the time period in Organ is no excuse. It was no excuse for skin heads and the Nazi film makers in the 40's and it is no excuse today. The only way a film maker could legitimately portray the reality of racism in a film is to either provide feedback through other voices or through actions and behavior of other characters in the film to negate the racist statements and show the reality that the characters views are just racist views of the character and not statements made by the film. You do non of that in Male Noche, and the actions and behaviors of the characters of color only prove the racist statements of Walt as truth. I watched your interviews and searched online to find interviews where you would at least acknowledge or apologize for overt racism of the film, but I was further disappointed when I found nothing. Your film Mala Noche, in my book, will be remembered in film history as the first bigoted and racist gay film, and not as a true piece of art.

ksf-2 Mala Noche is kind of "a month in the life of" Walt, played by Tim Streeter, who is fawning over Johnny, (Doug Cooeyate) a Mexican who hangs around Walt's store. It's touching, sad, and frustrating to watch as Walt keeps throwing himself at Johnny, and is constantly rebuffed. Walt, who is the caregiver to just about everyone he meets, spouts life philosophy and seems to enjoy the thrill of the chase in the gritty side of town. At the same time, it's refreshing to see a film from 20 years ago treat gay characters and relationships with respect, and to give them "normal" lines without resorting to stereotypes. Oddly, Ray Monge, who plays Roberto, a friend of Johnny, is the only one has has had more than one or two roles listed in their career, and he has just four roles listed. Some neat little touches, like the bottle on a string that pulls the door closed like a spring, Walt greeting everyone on the street, and the driving lesson gone wrong. Interesting interview with van Sant on the DVD from janus/Criterion, where he explains how it was made from Curtis' story. A little offbeat and rough, but fun to watch.

Benedict_Cumberbatch '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.

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.