REVIEWS AND PRESS

"A rhapsodic slacker noir pitched on the edge of physical and emotional darkness." - Nathan Lee, The Village Voice

"[A] poignant, raggedly poetic vision." - Nicolas Rapold, The New York Sun

"Funky, funny and ultimately moving." - Dennis Dermody, Papermag.com

"A lyrical ode to misplaced sexual obsession." - Phil Nugent, The Screengrab

"Time has been extraordinarily kind to the indie legend's debut ... the movie's preference for the elliptical over the explicit has proved to be an enduring form of personal expression." - David Fear, Time Out New York

“Arresting … a raw, libidinous tale of homosexual desire.” – Gerald Peary, The Boston Phoenix

"This is the first, smallest, and most essential planet in the Van Sant solar system." - Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe

"[Van Sant] posesses a penchant for pure lyricism that puts him in league with Terrence Malick." - Max Goldberg, San Francisco Bay Guardian

"One of the most influential if least-viewed works in the canon of the New Queer Cinema." - David Lamble, The Bay Area Reporter

"Generous as can be ... Its achievement is in turning the potentially wearisome, frightening, and humiliating parts of quotidian life into a folk tale radiating swagger and bliss." - David Pratt-Robson, Stylus Magazine

“Feels like an unrequited first love; jagged around the edges, tingling with expectation … the film is so unabashedly poignant that each frame seems to tremble with held-back sobs.” – Kaori Shoji, The Japan Times

"Seeing Mala Noche for the first time in 2007 is a revelation ... If you've never seen where it all started, don't miss it." - David Schmader, The Stranger