Maya Deren - Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a short experimental film directed by wife and husband team, Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid. The film's narrative is circular, and repeats a number of psychologically symbolic images, including a flower on a long driveway, a key falling, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a mysterious Grim Reaper--like cloaked figure with a mirror for a face, a phone off the hook and an ocean. Through creative editing, distinct camera angles, and slow motion, the surrealist film depicts a world in which it is more and more difficult to catch reality.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Maya
• Deren
• Meshes
• of
• the
• Afternoon

[Cabalen03]

@Aceticacidplease they are not doing it wrong, meaning of an experimental film is that, it has no meaning. It is up to the viewer to come up to their own meaning of what they saw. And you saying that a hundred people found their own meaning of the film, then clearly, they are doing it right.

[ClassicMoviesFTW]

THIS is cinema

[ElizaVienna]

Yet another stunning Deren piece. Thanks for posting these videos! (Still can't help but see the DarcsZ000000000 similarity).

[MrJBirkey]

If you have to explain why something is better than Hollywood productions using film-study terminology, you can't be surprised that the masses do not recognize it as "better". Although Deren really knew her stuff and was very conscious about her techniques, I gravitate more towards traditional cinema because I find it more entertaining. I fully understand why most film-makers produce more digestible material than this (and trust me, I get the intriguing/frustrating purpose of this film).

[APerfectAsss]

SPOILER ALERT!  Ha ha! Just kidding!

[JRAproject]

the scene when she goes upstairs and steps over the knife was great...slow motion dream like image i will not soon forget...anyone recommend some other films?

[depelated]

Of course, not to say that Maya Deren is a surrealist but that the cinematic interplay of surreal elements lends itself to a great film.

[depelated]

I understand this is an avant-garde film but how is it that elements of this film don't weave into good feature films today? With the exception of David Lynch and Sodorberg, there is really no surrealism in mainstream cinema even though elements of this nature could be brilliant. But no, we celebrate the works of Avatar and King Kong, both of which depict the lowest form of cinema, according to Maya Deren.

[depelated]

Fuck 1080p.

[depelated]

Maya Deren is awesome in that she isn't immediately recognized for her looks or charm, even if she does have it, but rather for her brilliance and ingenuity in realm of Avant-Garde. Dear Hollywood, Fuck You.

[awaymyghosts]

Experimental cinema has always been more formalist (take structuralism, for example) than other film genres, therefore its meaning does not relay on standardized, Hollywood-esque interpretations. 'Meshes of the Afternoon' has a rather abstract narrative, and it should be seen more as an important experiment for the American avant-garde with a rather poetic vision veiled upon its images.

[epoydeyto]

Nobody seems to notice it, but Maya Deren is gorgeous.