At Land is a film by Maya Deren. A seminal work from a woman who worked against the grain. It appears so, at least, because of her attitudes toward American cinema at the time. The two-hour running time, the big budget, the narrative. All of these she rejected in her films. She is truly a prize in the cinema world and a beauty to behold. Maya employed the help of her then husband and friends in the making of her second most known film. An interdisciplinarian in her own right, she also works here as a fantastic poet on par with her contemporary and colleague Breton.
What I found interesting when watching the film was how ethereal and surreal it is. And how poetic. The images and the editing seem aleatoric, but the composition is beautiful. This is a film where the captain is fully aware of where they want to take us. The problem is with the audience. We have no idea where we are once we arrive at our destination. I'm sure Maya was purposeful as she was setting up the shots, but we as the audience don't know what the film's intent is. We don't know what it means. We can guess. We can use her history to infer, but, ultimately, we don't know. My friend suggested that is was her reflecting on her past. The four men in the film are her past lovers. I postulate that it is how she feels about her place in art; about the struggles she has to face. She is a woman with such contemporaries as John Cage and Marcel Duchamp to name just two; an avant-garde boys club. This film may show how she is struggling in that world. It may also be a film about finding oneself. Deren had said on one occasion that this film "is about the struggle to maintain one's personal identity." Perhaps it is her resisting the urge to become what her friends became, and find her own place in art regardless of the praise or the backlash. Staying to true to herself.
This is ridiculous of me to say because the nature of this film, but the film, for me, starts to fall apart toward the end as the scenes become more erratic, and less poetic. I am struck by her beauty and her bravery to embark on this film. It is complex. It is beautiful. It is bizarre. But it is not mundane. And it should be shared and experienced, and appreciated for what it is, and what you interpret it to mean. What it says about you, the viewer, and how it can change your perspective for the future. Stay true to yourself. That's what is important. That is what I took away from At Land.
***
After the success of the rebooted Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan began what would be a very creative and ambitious project. A film that would please most film goers and critics alike. This is true, given that it was nominated for best picture, and given that it neared one billion dollars at the box office worldwide. By no means was it groundbreaking in terms of plot, or in terms of film technique, but is, nonetheless, very entertaining and enjoyable.
Scratch it. Scratch it. Scratch. it. Scratch it.
Sorry. Got a bit distracted there. Back to it, yeah?
You can see the influence of past films in Inception. There are hints of Indiana Jones as in the beginning of the film (choose your team more wisely next time), 2001: A Space Odyssey toward the end (the dying old man in the sterile and ultra modern room and the rotating sets), and even At Land. I truly believe that Nolan was directly inspired to add props and scenes in his film because of At Land. The opening shots are both the same, both films have a girl carrying around a chess piece. And both have dream-like tones and themes. There is also another film that I feel I should mention. In 2010 after I watched Inception in theatres, I caught a film on t.v. called Dreamscape, and I noticed several similarities between it and Inception. I do not insinuate that Nolan stole ideas, but I do find it interesting that implanting ideas in one's head to change the course of history (whether geopolitical or financial) through dreams was explored over 25 years earlier in Dreamscape. And there are countless more films that Nolan has cited as influential in the making of this film.
Now, I do not want to go into what the film means, because there have been a slew of articles and even philosophical books written about the film. I also do not want to go into the many plot holes that scatter the film, and there are many. Some of it is the fault of the writing, but other holes were the result of specific departments of the film such as the make-up department*. This was a very talked about movie when getting out of the theatre. What does it mean? What about the ending? The ambiguous ending has been talked about and was even talked about after we watched it. Was Cobb still dreaming or not? My ultimate answer: I don't think Cobb cares at that point. The people that matter in his life up to that point, his children, had been estranged from him for at least a year, and he hadn't gotten to know them as well as his wife, and would have no idea if they were "just a shade" of his own children. He wanted to be with his children. If it was still in a dream or in real life, he could care less. That's why he doesn't wait for the top to topple over. This truly was an exciting, adventurous, entertaining, and fun movie. And it truly was talked about and talked up. People had qualms with it (I admit, I did too). But, the fact is, it is just a movie. Suspension of disbelief is key to accepting and enjoying the movie. The majority of the film, one could argue the entire film, is set in dreams and in built dream mazes where logic and physics shouldn't be brought into question. It should be enjoyed like a good dream. A dream that you don't want to wake up from because it's better, more fantastical and less mundane than your life.
***1/2
So, to recap: Dreams are dreamed by dreamers who long for something different, unique, artistic, and enjoyable. Deren and Nolan are two dreamers and two artists in their own right. One is definitely more mainstream than the other, but both filmakers' filmographies should definitely be sampled, if not devoured.
Bon appetit!
*If you want me to go into those, let me know.
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