Maya Deren is a legend of avant-garde cinema. This authoritative biography of the charismatic filmmaker, poet and anthropologist features excerpts from her pioneering Meshes of the Afternoon and her unfinished documentary on Haiti, interviews with Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, and recordings of her lectures. Narrated by actress Helen Mirren, this definitive documentary offers startling insights into one of the most intriguing, accomplished figures in cinema history.
USA
USA
This documentary is unique for me. It took a filmmaker who I very much wanted to know more about, and completely eliminated any further interest that I might have had. Perhaps it should be called an “anti-documentary.”
INVOCATION: MAYA DEREN is the story of the avant-garde filmmaker who made a most intriguing film, MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON. There were definite elements of Bunuel and Cocteau in it, yet it had a fascinating freshness that I wanted to see again and again as if I could unlock its “secrets.” Seeking more information about the filmmaker, I came across a Blu-ray release called THE MAYA DEREN COLLECTION which contained all of her films and this documentary. Before proceeding with the…
Overly rushed and slightly credulous (the Voudou stuff, and the many rumors of her decline and demise being related to it, is laid on rather thickly) but often remarkable overview of the life and career of one of the greatest American filmmakers to work completely outside of standard narrative cinema, with such surprising inclusions as photos of her wedding to Teiji Ito, quite a lot of audio of her talking (and singing!), including a Mike Wallace interview, and even a bit of footage from her funeral, plus good interviews with the likes of Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage and Deren's onetime husband and collaborator Sasha Hammid (immortalized in cinema as the man in Meshes of the Afternoon, which he codirected) as…
Does a nice job filling in the blanks of Deren's life and sparse filmography. Has plenty of interesting subjects without leaning too hard on being a talking-head thing. And I always enjoy hearing Brakhage talk, no matter the subject. He could read the phonebook and I'd be nodding along like "ah yes, very profound."
(My 1000th logged film of 2019!)
This and In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2002) mirrored (no pun intended) each other in many aspects, mainly the selection of interviewees, but both had their share of differences that made them worth watching if you're interested to learn more about Maya Deren and her forward-thinking contributions to cinema.
It's true that Maya Deren's best work was her first two surrealist shorts, but this documentary maintains interest well past its opening minutes with interviews with Deren's colleagues and confidants on her evolving cinematic interests and social and romantic tumults. Besides her films themselves, the original source material on Deren is limited to photographs and a few audio lectures which is a shame because her friends speak of a vibrant and flamboyant socialite. For those who lack the time or patience to wade through Deren's lesser-known experiments, this film shows brief clips and is an indispensable window into the work of her later career.
Pretty standard biographical documentary, but I liked learning more about Deren's life.
Stan Brakhage has a way with words and such a pleasant voice.
I liked that it replicated some of the quiet and the stillness of Deren's work, not fussily filling its space with unnecessary cinematic elements that Deren actively fought against.
Excellent documentary on Maya Deren (included in Kino’s BD release). It’s only an hour long but it really hits all the right points for me. We have interviews with people who knew her, stories about making the films, and even a little bit of analysis thrown in make this a really good documentary.
A fine enough documentary on Maya Deren’s life that occasionally features a few neat visual ideas, but it falls prey to its short runtime being unable to fully express her life and being very pedestrian…especially in comparison to the woman and her work itself. Fine enough watch for Deren fans but pretty dull for anyone uninterested.
