A Streetwise but Fanciful ‘Noche’

FULLERTON —  Gus Van Sant’s “Mala Noche,” made in 1985 for only $25,000, was the first revelation of the gutter-smart sensibility that would mark the director’s subsequent “Drugstore Cowboy” and “My Own Private Idaho.” It’s being shown tonight at Cal State Fullerton on a bill with Derek Jarman’s “Edward II” (1992).

“Mala Noche” tells the story of Johnny (Doug Cooeyate), a Mexican teen-ager getting by on Portland’s Skid Row, and Walt (Tim Streeter), the manager of a corner store who pursues him. Based on a semi-autobiographical novella by poet Walt Curtis, it’s an often grim (shot in grainy black-and-white 16-millimeter stock) but purposeful, sometimes sardonic movie about passion, doomed love and survival.

Walt has given himself over to an obsession, fixating on Johnny in ways both dreamily romantic and anchored solidly to the hard earth. He knows his attraction to Johnny is totally one-sided, and he knows there is emotional and physical danger in it, but he doesn’t care. The chase itself gives him an erotic thrill.

Johnny, meanwhile, relies on a savvy that is beyond his 18 years. Life as an illegal alien in Portland’s ghetto is tough, and Johnny understands that few opportunities come one’s way. Walt is a good one: He has a car, some money and a store full of wine and cigarettes. Johnny hates what he calls “faggots and queers,” but he’s ready to go along for the ride, at least part way.

“Mala Noche” may sound like a descent into a subculture that many people would rather not think about. And it is revealing, in a terse, unambiguous way. But there’s something unique about the film, and it comes from Van Sant’s technique.

His visual style is fanciful but rarely precious. As in “Drugstore Cowboy,” the look of things in “Mala Noche” carries its own coding.

Whether the camera (John Campbell did the cinematography) settles on Walt and Johnny jousting lustfully or on clouds, waterfalls, even neon signs, it’s with a cockeyed slant, creating a sense of displacement that says something about the world in which these characters live.

* “Mala Noche” (1985), by Gus Van Sant, is being shown tonight at 8:15 in the University Center Titan Theatre at Cal State Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton. “Edward II” (1992), by Derek Jarman, is being shown at 6:30 and 10 p.m. Free. (714) 773-3501.