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?
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
Andreas Moss
First of all, this is a movie Kenneth Anger never finished. Its only 1/8 of what he planned, so its probably difficult to give it a fair judgment as a whole. First time I saw it, I didn't get it at all. Its a three minute short movie about a very 'gay' looking man caressing his expensive car. Very visual, and nice colors.. but thats it! He uses a powder puff to brush the shiny car. What Anger wanted to do with this movie was to make us think about the growing bubblegum-mentality in youngsters of America. The teenage of California in a world of hot-rod and customized cars. How crazy it is. How our standards as humans in some circumstances are far above anything normal. I thought it was an interesting project and I'm sad he never found people to support it financially to complete it.
preppy-3
Whole film is about 3 minutes long. We see a buff guy shining up his beautiful 50s style car while a great 50s song plays on the soundtrack. That's about it, but it's quick, has beautiful color and is just a fun little short! Worth seeing.
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