Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid’s Meshes of the Afternoon is a surrealist nightmare that packs more symbolism and experimental camerawork into its thirteen minutes than many full-length efforts can manage. A nameless heroine finds herself exploring a house several times over, with subtle and disorienting changes to the scene occurring each time. Confronting her are a series of transforming objects, a shadowy, faceless pursuer, a man (presumably her husband), and even projections of herself. But nothing can be taken at face value – perhaps all of these visions are just different manifestations of the same obstacle? Although it was originally made without a score, the film’s vertigo-inducing imagery is strengthened immeasurably by Teiji Ito’s 1959 soundtrack, which often sounds like the unholy offspring of a snake charmer’s flute and a swarm of irate hornets. Meshes is as disturbing as it is difficult to forget.
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