Girl in the Night is a melancholy take on modern life with deadpan humor (Fantastic Fest 2026)
Writer/director Luka Marcetic's second feature, Girl in the Night, is a clever take on the mundanity of modern life with loads of deadpan humor. It's also a story about two lonely souls who meet each other over strange circumstances. Yet, beyond the humor, the film contains clever commentary and is oddly relatable.
Girl in the Night stars Urban Kuntaric as Rok, a gas station worker who spends his days munching on candy bars that he stole at his job, watching TV, standing beneath flickering streetlights, or hanging with his roommates, Kremen (Rok Roudi) and Nik (Nejc Jezernik), who offer some of the film's most awkward and comedic moments, especially a scene where they throw Rok a surprise birthday party and make him a vegetarian cake with chili powder. Yes, it's absurd, but it's also very sad that they're the only ones at Rok's birthday party, and he decides to go to bed early.
Rok's ho-hum life becomes more interesting, however, when he meets a strange young woman named Iza, played by Lara Wolf. She appears and disappears, often with gashes on her face and neck. She also claims to possess superpowers. Oh, and she only appears at night. Make of that what you will. Yet, Rok feels a strange pull and attraction towards her. After he steals Iza's bike, he lies to her about it and vows to help her find the culprit, hoping it'll form a bond.
This film won't be for everyone. As already stated, it has incredibly deadpan humor. It also focuses on people in very mundane circumstances, yearning for something, anything to happen in their life, Rok especially. Yet, if you strip away some of the film's strangeness, Yugoslavian director Marcetic has a lot to say about the 21st Century, specifically how we go to work, come home, watch TV, and wake up to obey the same routine, day in, day out. Rinse and repeat. In that way, Rok is a 21st Century everyman. It's also easy to understand his attraction to Iza, a woman who seemingly does what she wants, when she wants. Unlike Rok, she doesn't appear to be stuck in a dead-end job, but she works as a vigilante, and while assisting her, Rok is pulled into dangerous situations.
Because the film's female lead works as a female vigilante and may have strange powers, the feature warrants comparisons to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. We may not have a vampire here, per say, but there are commonalities between the two women, especially their fierce sense of agency, and even the locations. The unnamed town in Girl in the Night somewhat resembles Bad City, the fictional town in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. There are no oil rigs in this film, but both settings are desolate, empty, and depressing, making crime common.
Filmed in Slovenia with a small cast and crew, the feature looks stunning. Cinematographer Lev Predan Kowarsk really makes the most of the nighttime setting. There's beauty in the way he frames a single streetlight and its orange glow, barren trees looming behind Rok, or the gas station's flickering sign. Simply put, the film looks damn good, and some of the shots reinforce the sense of loneliness and isolation. If the film has one flaw, it's that it veers a bit too into left field as it heads towards its conclusion, and there's a twist that just seems a bit too unreal, even for a film with some outlandish moments.
Girl in the Night just won Best Feature Film at Fantastic Fest, and there's absolutely an audience for this movie. It's a gorgeous looking film with style, heart, and humor. Beyond some of the awkward moments, there's a relatable story about two people who find connection and rise above depressing circumstances.
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