Reseñas de la crítica

It all but redefined cinema's capacity for suggestive and imagistic storytelling through its radically intuitive editing strategies and inscrutably gothic imagery.

Images that tumble through space with a twisted geometry turn her home into a Suprematist nightmare; whimsical transformations through familiar yet still jolting special effects have a derisive, uncanny edge. Deren is one of the great screen presences; with her billowing hair and lugubrious gaze, she incarnates the eternal bohemian, rendering morbidity alluring and turning the air of idealistic purpose into a dance of seduction.

There is some similarity with works by Shirley Clarke or the early surrealism of Bunuel. Structurally, we can see its influence in Lynch´s Lost Highway, where no explanation is given or needed for one thing (or person) turning into another... By understanding Meshes Of The Afternoon, such ´populist´ surrealism becomes child´s play.

Deren, working from her own dream-images and shooting in her own home, made an intuitive leap that has given the film its lasting resonance: her vision of Los Angeles links this experimental, mytho-poetic impulse with an atmosphere that is proto-film noir in its use of architecture and interior design, not to mention its atmosphere of dread and menace.

Meshes of the Afternoon‘s dream-like mise-en-scène, illogical narrative trajectory, fluid movement and ambient soundtrack invite a type of contemplative, perhaps even transcendental, involvement for the spectator.