Post by klep on Mar 8, 2021 10:59:55 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 3/8: Meshes of the Afternoon
SURREALISM WEEK!
CW: Suicide, abuse
You can get a lot done in a short, particularly if you're willing to be abstract. In Maya Deren's influential short film Meshes of the Afternoon, there is no exposition, there is no dialog, there is barely an establishing shot. She just immerses you in a feeling and trusts you to keep up with what narrative she's creating.
A woman (Deren) picks a flower off the street we saw left there mysteriously. She carries it up to an apartment. She considers knocking, but doesn't. She fumbles the key, scrambles for it, then enters. The scene within is messy - papers strewn on the floor, phone off the hook, a knife still in a loaf of bread in the kitchen. It's as if someone was waiting in there then split as soon as they heard her approach. It's an unsettling, lonely feeling as she starts picking her way through the apartment. She sits and drifts off, as if determined to wait for the place's occupant to suck it up and face her.
Loneliness and isolation are the general theme. Deren's protagonist spends much of the film chasing a mysterious figure in black with a mirror for a face - a figure unknown and unknowable, impossible to see anything in it that you aren't projecting onto it. Even if she were to catch it, there's no connection to be had there. She eventually finds multiple versions of herself as the dream becomes more layered, and they draw lots as to which will attempt to kill the version sleeping in the chair. The woman's isolation has turned to suicidal ideation, and it's only being awakened by a man (Deren's then-husband Alexander Hammid) that saves her.
She follows him upstairs to bed, and you catch an instructive glance of him in the mirror. As she's about to drift off again he reaches for her, caresses her, bends down for a kiss. She grabs the knife the mysterious figure left on the bed in her dream and slashes at him, the image becomes a shattered glass with shards falling onto the beach behind. The man enters the apartment and finds a mess, with the woman dead in the chair she initially fell asleep in.
It's a finale that raises some disturbing questions. It connects the unknowable figure to the man, implying he may be the reason for her suicidal thoughts. There's a lot that can be read into that, from him being generally unavailable emotionally to him being outright abusive. She certainly finds no comfort in the thought of his touch. She's trapped in isolation and her only potential human connection is one she cannot connect to and cannot bear.
Meshes of the Afternoon conveys all this with barely a line of dialog, and without any observation of the woman's daily life or hardly any of her interactions with the man. We're able to learn all we need to through impression and metaphor, and Deren communicates it all in just under 13 minutes.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 3/15: Who Killed Captain Alex?
EMERGING MARKETS WEEK
For Emerging Markets week we're turning to Who Killed Captain Alex?, an action-comedy made in Uganda's Wakaliwood for a mere $85 by Nabwana IGG. Be sure to join us next week for what will undoubtedly be a uniquely fun experience with this new cult classic. Who Killed Captain Alex? is available on Wakaliwood's YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEoGrbKAyKE
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 3/9: Minari
Lee Isaac Chung's highly praised (and Golden Globe-winning) film about a Korean immigrant family trying to take up farming in rural Arkansas is the subject of next week's podcast. Come join our discussion of the film on Wednesday! Minari is available for (unfortunately expensive) rent in the usual places.
SURREALISM WEEK!
CW: Suicide, abuse
You can get a lot done in a short, particularly if you're willing to be abstract. In Maya Deren's influential short film Meshes of the Afternoon, there is no exposition, there is no dialog, there is barely an establishing shot. She just immerses you in a feeling and trusts you to keep up with what narrative she's creating.
A woman (Deren) picks a flower off the street we saw left there mysteriously. She carries it up to an apartment. She considers knocking, but doesn't. She fumbles the key, scrambles for it, then enters. The scene within is messy - papers strewn on the floor, phone off the hook, a knife still in a loaf of bread in the kitchen. It's as if someone was waiting in there then split as soon as they heard her approach. It's an unsettling, lonely feeling as she starts picking her way through the apartment. She sits and drifts off, as if determined to wait for the place's occupant to suck it up and face her.
Loneliness and isolation are the general theme. Deren's protagonist spends much of the film chasing a mysterious figure in black with a mirror for a face - a figure unknown and unknowable, impossible to see anything in it that you aren't projecting onto it. Even if she were to catch it, there's no connection to be had there. She eventually finds multiple versions of herself as the dream becomes more layered, and they draw lots as to which will attempt to kill the version sleeping in the chair. The woman's isolation has turned to suicidal ideation, and it's only being awakened by a man (Deren's then-husband Alexander Hammid) that saves her.
She follows him upstairs to bed, and you catch an instructive glance of him in the mirror. As she's about to drift off again he reaches for her, caresses her, bends down for a kiss. She grabs the knife the mysterious figure left on the bed in her dream and slashes at him, the image becomes a shattered glass with shards falling onto the beach behind. The man enters the apartment and finds a mess, with the woman dead in the chair she initially fell asleep in.
It's a finale that raises some disturbing questions. It connects the unknowable figure to the man, implying he may be the reason for her suicidal thoughts. There's a lot that can be read into that, from him being generally unavailable emotionally to him being outright abusive. She certainly finds no comfort in the thought of his touch. She's trapped in isolation and her only potential human connection is one she cannot connect to and cannot bear.
Meshes of the Afternoon conveys all this with barely a line of dialog, and without any observation of the woman's daily life or hardly any of her interactions with the man. We're able to learn all we need to through impression and metaphor, and Deren communicates it all in just under 13 minutes.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 3/15: Who Killed Captain Alex?
EMERGING MARKETS WEEK
For Emerging Markets week we're turning to Who Killed Captain Alex?, an action-comedy made in Uganda's Wakaliwood for a mere $85 by Nabwana IGG. Be sure to join us next week for what will undoubtedly be a uniquely fun experience with this new cult classic. Who Killed Captain Alex? is available on Wakaliwood's YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEoGrbKAyKE
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 3/9: Minari
Lee Isaac Chung's highly praised (and Golden Globe-winning) film about a Korean immigrant family trying to take up farming in rural Arkansas is the subject of next week's podcast. Come join our discussion of the film on Wednesday! Minari is available for (unfortunately expensive) rent in the usual places.