Meshes of the Afternoon

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85%

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User Ratings: 3,567
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Movie Info

One of the most important and influential experimental films of the 20th century, Maya Deren's 18-minute feminist classic explores the interior images of a woman (played by Deren) whose daydreams restore mystery and danger to the ordinary objects of her everyday life. Deren veers away from plot to advance her view that a film should be like a poem: a deep tissue of images designed to examine a mood or startle us with the strangeness of the things around us. Using film as an artistic medium rather than as a vehicle for stars or story or action, Deren looks back toward the earlier European avant-garde of such filmmakers as Germaine Dulac, who believed that film most resembled the abstract yet emotional form of music. Deren's investigation of one woman's subconscious experience explicitly rejects the linear form of theater and literature in favor of the non-narrative models offered by painting, music, sculpture, or poetry. This alternative view of film as a non-narrative artform was incalculably influential on future filmmakers, and in 1990 Meshes was named to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.

Cast

Maya Deren
as The Woman
Alexander Hammid
as The Man

Critic Reviews for Meshes of the Afternoon

All Critics (3) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (3)

View All Critic Reviews (3)

Audience Reviews for Meshes of the Afternoon

  • Jun 04, 2013
    The creation of such haunting and nightmarish phenomenon from one of the legendary poetesses of cinema had its reminiscence in surrealism more than in poetry itself. The "key" to reflection and self-discovery comes from within, not from external wills, and so begins the infinite loop of thoughts and epiphanies but nothing is ever the same. There is always some element that changes the entire package. Every second is unique; present is defined as that indivisible particle that unites nothingness with the future, which still isn't the "to be", whereas the past is only in memories, intimidation, water reflections, broken mirrors... 100/100
    Edgar C Super Reviewer
  • Jul 04, 2012
    A woman sees a figure walking around a corner on a garden path, fumbles her key when trying to enter her apartment, sees a knife fall out of the loaf of bread it was lodged in, and then goes upstairs and takes a nap; she has a series of recurring dreams where these incidents and objects repeat themselves in new combinations, building up to a nightmarish conclusion. This mysterious and poetic riddle without a solution becomes more fascinating with each subsequent viewing.
    Greg S Super Reviewer
  • Sep 05, 2010
    This is pretty good for an experimental film, but I still didn't like it.
    Aj V Super Reviewer
  • Mar 20, 2010
    There was a time in cable television where I got to watch experimental films from Filipino filmmakers, it is called "Alternative Cinema". That was my elementary days, and I remember being frightened by some of the works, and watching "Meshes of the Afternoon", it again evoked that kind of feeling. It was by no means a horror film, but it was countless times scarier than legitimate fright pictures, not because of boogeymen and killers, but because of the eerie aura of the whole film that does not just dare to scare physically, but mainly to touch the raw nerves of the subconscious. If the idea in "Paprika" will be true, then documented dreams of the disturbed will look something like this film, a brainchild by husband-wife Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid(Deren got the accolades more, but it was reported that the whole film was largely Hammid's idea).
    Ivan D Super Reviewer
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