Mala Noche

Johnny (Doug Cooeyate) and Pepper (Ray Monge), both of whom crossed the border illegally from Mexico, are trying to make a quick buck in Portland. In a run-down neighborhood, they meet Walt (Tim Streeter), who runs a liquor store. Walt seems to take a caring interest in them, inviting them to dinner and offering them lodging and help. But his motivation is by no means altruistic; rather, it is openly rooted in sexual interest. He also embodies the modern version of an arch-capitalist exploiter who sees himself as a benefactor and fails to grasp what he is doing to the two Mexicans. Filmed in stark black and white, Mala Noche oscillates between love and desire, racism in Western societies, and the alienation of the human being in modernity, where even the body, in all its exploitable forms, has mutated into a commodity. (E.S.)