Films of Kenneth Anger 1 [DVD]

I mean, I just saw it, and I'm still not sure what I saw. I do know that it's not anything like I've seen before.These few shorts qualify more as performance art than cinema. The poses and posturings, the exaggerated makeup and costumes, they remind me of silent films. Come to think of it, these are silent or nearly so, except for the musical score. I found Janacek's score for the final piece especially haunting. I don't know whether I like it or not, but I want to hear it again.The classic silen films never used color, though. Well, "Fireworks" isn't color, "Rabbit's Moon" is largely monochrome if not black and white, and "Eaux D'Artifice" has just a trace of color, just for a moment. "Puce Moment" and "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" certainly have color. They come across in eye-popping shades: Cadmium-orange hair, chrome green faces, and diabolic reds, among others. "Inauguration" set its saturated hues against black backdrops, most often, so the brilliant chromaticity would stand forward even more.Among these pieces, I found "Eaux" the most baffling: a Marie Antoinette figure walking then trotting through a gushing garden of fountains, a moment with a magical fan, then walking away into darkness. These can't be taken as ordinary movies, with plot and characters (or maybe they can). Instead, they're compositions in color, human form, and time (or maybe they aren't). They are certainly enigmatic.-- wiredweird

Kenneth Anger is an American underground film maker, as well as an occultist who is much more influential in the realms of cinema and the occult than is recognized today. The audacity of his vision is simply startling, especially by the standards of the '40s and '50s. The films in this collection are a perfect introduction to Anger's vision and style. The first five serious film endeavors of Anger, beginning in 1947 (an auspicious year for Thelemites) with Fireworks, when he was only 17 years old.Fireworks (1947): inspired by Anger's dream, where he is beaten and raped by a gang of sailors. Anger himself said that "this flick is all I have to say about being 17, the United States Navy, American Christmas and the Fourth of July."Puce Moment (1949): a five minute fragment of what was supposed to become a feature film called "Puce Women". The music and the motion of this fragment make it's five minutes unforgettable. Also, the sheer nihilism of how Hollywood beauty is portrayed is undeniable.Rabbit's Moon (1950): an awesome psychodrama involving mimes and children, ritualistically yearning for the unattainable moon to 1950's pop songs. The music ingeniously compliments the imagery and action. a strange blend of French comedy, Oriental mythology, and masonic symbolism.Eaux d'Artifice (1953): a very beautiful tour of a magickal labyrinth of waterfalls and fountains, as we follow the water witch to her final destiny - all to the tune of Vivaldi!Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954): and it seems that they have saved the very best for last! This trippy descent into hedonistic rites is topped off with a healthy serving of Thelemic mysticism and magick. Here Anger introduces the mythology of Aleister Crowley for the first time. The Scarlet Woman is played by Cameron, the widowed wife of the famous rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons. Kenneth Anger has a bit part in this film as well, you can see him dressed in funereal black as the Goddess Hecate. The cabbalistic sign of Baphomet is seen as a backdrop for only a few seconds, but this would be the symbol La Vey was to employ as the symbol for the Church of Satan more than fifteen years later! This film plummets very quickly into delirium, as the orgies of pleasure and decadence reaches its crescendo, the Pleasure Dome that is being inaugurated is also an inescapable trap!One of the best features to this collection is the audio commentary by Kenneth Anger for each film, giving us valuable insight into his artistic vision.

I'm no artsy film buff (I had never before heard of Kenneth Anger-just bought this on impluse), but I found these short films intriguing & just plain fun to watch. It's hard to belive they were made around 1950, mostly because of the music. The first one is a little too darkly sexual for my taste, but the others are mesmerizing. Anger uses just film & props to create stunning visual effects & uses what I believe is extant music-not written just for the films. These are films that I watch over & over. They just have a sort of visceral pull. They remind me a little of the Max Castle character from Flicker.

I first discovered Kenneth Anger films while watching Invocation of my demon brother on the back of a screen while a band was playing at a club. After finding out who directed the film I was able to look up some of Anger's films on YouTube.Fireworks - Really interesting how the film opens with Kenneth awaking from a dream while holding some kind of Idol statue. It then turns into a really cool scene of him getting torn apart and then awaking from a dream from within a dream. There are a lot of cool things to look for such at the statue of the hand in the begging and how it looks at the end of the film. You can see where this film would help mold upcoming underground art.Puce Moment- This short film really capture's desire, an in my opinion the comfort in alienation.Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome- This is my favorite film off of the collection. This film really takes you on a journey into a beautiful occult fantasy, it's almost like a bosh painting come to life.

A fascinating example of experimental cinema.

ケネス・アンガーの貴重な初期映像集で、豪華なブックレットつき。ケネス・アンガーを観る上では字幕や吹き替えは不要。カルト映像ファンなら、ぜひ手に入る今のうちに買うべき。