I did sit down after a lunch that ran late and watched Gun Van Sant's MALA NOCHE. An interesting "first" attempt (he said in a disc interview that he had made a 45 minute film that got no distribution), and there are some lovely things in it. The narrator/main actor of the piece is such a sweet natured guy, I spent the entire movie dreading that something awful was going to befall him. (I mean, with that title "Bad Night," it's understandable to think that!)
Criterion has done a fine job cleaning it up (just one hair and a few light scratches near the end), but, DR Elmore, it IS very dark and shadowy. Van Sant said in his interview that they just used available lighting and three spotlights do that's why shadows go so deep and the light falls off so quickly.
It was made for $20,000 so it has that REAL independent film look to it.