HeadlinesExotic Boring

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

MisterWhiplash This is simply a three minute short film - maybe closer to what, if Anger had been working by the 80's, as a music video - where a man is shining a sexy convertible with a fluffy white piece that looks like one of those expensive looking cats. That's all you get here, nothing quite as complex as what Anger did in Scorpio Rising, but what he does is enough: cars are a fetish object, and so we see it as just that.Like Scorpio once again music and image get put together in such a way that meaning is unmistakable: "Dream Lover", not the faster version but the more slow-dance tempo, is meant to croon us into loving the car and seeing it as this boy may see it. There's also the inside of the car too, which has so many things to look at that it feels like something grandiose like a spaceship.At the same time it's a specific intention here: cars like this may be made and driven today, but back then (or more specifically even the 1950s which this hearkens back to), if a guy couldn't get a girl then at least he had his car, and if he did get the girl then it's double the pleasure. Perhaps what Anger then is saying is... the car could be enough, right fellas?

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) At least this is what I was thinking all the time when watching these slightly over 3 minutes. It's a 1970 film by famous short movie director Kenneth Anger and basically shows us a guy cleaning his car and then driving off with it. Anger has always used colors to emphasize the contents of his work and here pink is his dominant choice. I am not too sure how homosexuality was perceived in 1970, but the schmaltzy pop music together with the visuals clearly give off such a vibe here. And even if it was not Anger's idea how this would be perceived, it is interesting to see how perception changed over the decades. Anyway, Anger was in his 40s already when he made this, so in the middle of his career pretty much as he started shooting films already way before his 20th birthday. Today he is almost 90 and still active. I thought this was an interesting watch, but it does not have as much depth as I hoped it would. Don't feel the need to watch it anytime soon again and cannot really recommend it, but still I believe this is among Kenneth Anger's more successful works. Also pay attention to all the K's used in the title. A KKK reference? Or just the first letter from the director's name? Your pick.

Polaris_DiB Pretty much a stylistic and thematic sequel to Scorpio Rising, only not quite as long and engaged and definitely not as dark. The action, for three minutes, is a man polishing his car. However, the imagery is of some serious lovemaking, and we're not talking about tongue-in-cheek "hur hur hur he's boning his car dudes", we're talking straight-up fetishizing of a vehicle obviously feminized, with seating in the shape of vaginae and an engine that looks like it has breasts. The car itself is, ironically enough considering its femininity, a perfect body, with bright shining clean skin and sleek design, less than 2% body fat and real muscle.In terms of the title, Kenneth Anger is not ignorant of what KKK means. Like in Scorpio Rising, he replaces cultural idiosyncrasy with a queer eye for alternative meanings. With his love of alchemy, different "chemical" elements (such as the artifice of the car, the blue tight-fit clothing of the man, the fuzzy boa he polishes the car with, and the pink background) turn one thing (the simple act of polishing and starting a car) into another (sex and death, Eros of the imagery and Thanatos of the title).--PolarisDiB

ebbets-field What a refreshing contrast to Anger's normal output -- this is short, to the point, simple, and under control. No pretentiousness, and competent technical qualities, for a change. It's not about anything of importance, just fetishism for the bodies of cars and of young men, but for once Anger masters his form and puts it to the service of his small idea. A mini-delight.