Month: April 2010

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

In 1943, Maya Deren and Alexander Hamid made a 14-minute experimental film called Meshes of the Afternoon. While the scenes play out in mysterious and elliptical fashion, the title presents at least one clear direction for the film: the woman who stars in the film—played by Deren herself—walks around her neighborhood and home on a sunny afternoon, but is trapped, or enmeshed, in the domesticity of suburban life.

With abrupt cuts, repeated images, and bold symbols, the film addresses questions of traditional gender roles, ossified social structures, the isolation inherent in society, and the deep fears that threaten to overtake us all. The opening scenes of the film, following the woman as she walks down her street and into her home, refrain from showing her entire body or face. Instead we get glimpses of a flower she carries, her feet as she walks, her hands as she swings them, or her shadow as it flits across blank walls.

Deren shows us a woman not fully in the world—a mere shadow in the walled and isolated environment in which she finds herself. When a man eventually appears in her home, he is more a stranger or intruder than he is a comfort or companion. One recurring image makes the struggle of the heroine clearest: from outside her window, the camera watches her as she stares through the glass. But across the window in reflection are the branches and leaves from a tree just outside. Even here, in a moment of mental escape from the domestic snares laid for her, the woman remains trapped.

Told with dream logic, including repeated scenes of the woman dozing in an overstuffed chair, the film presents a terrifying portrait of her gradual breakdown. Long before Freddy Krueger used nightmares to kill teenagers in the real world of cheap slasher flicks, Deren and Hamid showed their audiences that the dreamy existence of 1940s suburban life was far more dangerous than it appeared. Meshes of the Afternoon questions humanity’s ability to continue to exist in a world built to isolate us from one another, where fear has become the primary means of relating to one another and death the only avenue of escape.

100 “American” Movies

What is America? How would I describe it if the only language I had were the movies? These were the questions put to me recently by a friend. These same questions led me to compile the following list of 100 movies that I would use to introduce an outsider to the United States. To complete the list, I wanted a multiplicity of voices from different eras. I wanted movies that represented a variety of genres, in particular making an effort to include comedy. Sometimes you know a place or its people best when you can begin to appreciate their comic rhythms.

Of course, this list is far from perfect, limited in particular by what I’ve actually seen. But it’s a starting point. In light of that, the question that interests me most involves you: What movies do you think serve as an introduction to America? Come up with a title or ten and leave a comment. I’d love to see what you suggest.

1. Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915)
2. The Immigrant (Chaplin, 1917)
3. Greed (von Stroheim, 1924)
4. The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925)
5. The Crowd (Vidor, 1927)
6. The General (Keaton, 1927)
7. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (LeRoy, 1932)
8. Steamboat Round the Bend (Ford, 1935)
9. Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
10. My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1936)
11. Make Way For Tomorrow (McCarey, 1937)
12. Gone with the Wind (Fleming, 1939)
13. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Capra, 1939)
14. Young Mr. Lincoln (Ford, 1939)
15. Grapes of Wrath (Ford, 1940)
16. Sergeant York (Hawks, 1940)
17. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
18. The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles, 1942)
19. The Ox-Bow Incident (Wellman, 1943)
20. Meet Me in St. Louis (Minnelli, 1944)
21. Mildred Pierce (Curtiz, 1945)
22. They Were Expendable (Ford, 1945)
23. The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler, 1946)
24. It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
25. Paisan (Rossellini, 1946)
26. Red River (Hawks, 1948)
27. Ace in the Hole (Wilder, 1951)
28. High Noon (Zinnemann, 1952)
29. Shane (Stevens, 1953)
30. The Sun Shines Bright (Ford, 1953)
31. Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)
32. Rebel Without a Cause (Ray, 1955)
33. On the Waterfront (Kazan, 1956)
34. The Searchers (Ford, 1956)
35. The Wrong Man (Hitchcock, 1956)
36. 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
37. The Incredible Shrinking Man (Arnold, 1957)
38. Sweet Smell of Success (Mackendrick, 1957)
39. West Side Story (Wise, 1961)
40. The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimmer, 1962)
41. To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
42. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick, 1964)
43. Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967)
44. The Graduate (Nichols, 1967)
45. Salesman (Maysles, 1968)
46. Easy Rider (Hopper, 1969)
47. M*A*S*H (Altman, 1970)
48. Patton (Schaffner, 1970)
49. Dirty Harry (Siegel, 1971)
50. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman, 1971)
51. The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
52. American Graffiti (Lucas, 1973)
53. Blazing Saddles (Brooks, 1974)
54. The Conversation (Coppola, 1974)
55. The Godfather Part II (Coppola, 1974)
56. All the President’s Men (Pakula, 1976)
57. Harlan County U.S.A (Kopple, 1976)
58. Network (Lumet, 1976)
59. Taxi Driver (Scorcese, 1976)
60. Killer of Sheep (Burnett, 1977)
61. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
62. Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
63. First Blood (Kotcheff, 1982)
64. The Right Stuff (Kaufman, 1983)
65. Scarface (DePalma, 1983)
66. Tender Mercies (Beresford, 1983)
67. The Natural (Levinson, 1984)
68. Places in the Heart (Benton, 1984)
69. Red Dawn (Milius, 1984)
70. Stand By Me (Reiner, 1986)
71. Wall Street (Stone, 1987)
72. Hoosiers (Anspaugh, 1988)
73. Platoon (Stone, 1988)
74. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Herek, 1989)
75. Christmas Vacation (Chechik, 1989)
76. Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989)
77. Goodfellas (Scorcese, 1990)
78. Miller’s Crossing (Coen, 1990)
79. Boyz n the Hood (Singleton, 1991)
80. Dazed and Confused (Linklater, 1993)
81. Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993)
82. Rudy (Anspaugh, 1993)
83. Safe (Haynes, 1995)
84. Dead Man Walking (Robbins, 1995)
85. L.A. Confidential (Hansen, 1997)
86. The Last Days of Disco (Stillman, 1998)
87. The Straight Story (Lynch, 1999)
88. George Washington (Green, 2000)
89. Zoolander (Stiller, 2001)
90. 25th Hour (Lee, 2002)
91. In America (Sheridan, 2002)
92. Spellbound (Blitz, 2002)
93. Take Out (Baker, 2004)
94. Good Night and Good Luck (Clooney, 2005)
95. Grizzly Man (Herzog, 2005)
96. The New World (Malick, 2005)
97. United 93 (Greegrass, 2006)
98. When the Levees Broke (Lee, 2006)
99. Taxi to the Dark Side (Gibney, 2007)
100. Milk (Van Sant, 2008)