The charm of the Western avant-garde lies in the fact that many times the meaning of the film can only be understood and cannot be described in words. "Lost Afternoon" is the closest to a dream I have ever seen in an avant-garde film, and it is definitely a nightmare.
Maya Deren was an important figure in the post-war American experimental film. After watching the film, I felt that a woman who could make such a movie must have a life of vigor and vigor, and Maya Deren did.
Flowers, men in black, keys and knives, phonographs, and shaking stairs are all highly directional. The film slowly blurs out the unimportant factors in the environment by repeating these elements, just like being immersed in a dream. True, but many times it is impossible to see the details around, and in the blur, the heroine's self-exploration is gradually becoming clear, and the remaining elements in the dream are the most essential things left in the self.
Anxiety and fear entered the dream from reality and became more and more intense. The oneness of the key and the knife is the most amazing reference. The key represents the opening of all unknown things. The man behind it shows that it is an exploration of the relationship between the sexes. 's conversion implies that exploration itself is also a kind of harm. The key was eventually fixed into a knife, destroying her Naxosian self.
"The Death of Nasocius' Self" comes from American critic Parker Taylor. Nasocius was a beautiful boy in ancient Greek mythology. He died of narcissism and haggard when he saw the image of himself by the water, and turned into a narcissus.
The destruction of the heroine in "Afternoon" comes from the heroine herself, the man in black with the face of a mirror, and the three identical selves that appear later. The repeated pursuit of the self in the film is like a kind of Nassuosi It was her narcissism, and the one who finally raised the knife and stabbed herself was herself. The other layer came from the men she came into contact with. The key in the film turned into a knife and stabbed herself. The woman who woke up in her sleep suddenly opened her eyes and found that the knife turned into a man who was about to kiss her, and then stabbed the man with the knife. did not wake up. In Nasocius' self-destruction, both aspects are indispensable for the heroine, and when her male image is destroyed, she realizes that she must get rid of that idealized self, which is a double destruction. wonderful
Bordwell said that "The Lost Afternoon" and "An Andalusian Dog" have strong similarities. But comparing the two films can also clearly feel the difference in the way female directors and male directors present in the film due to their actual status in sexual relations. "An Andalusian Dog" is generally offensive, while "The Lost Afternoon" Full of restlessness, anxiety, fear, and overall defensiveness.
ps. Is there any horror movie with the image of a man in black? People like black ghosts keep appearing around, I turned my head and found that his face turned out to be a mirror, this setting is too cool
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