Kustom Kar Kommandos

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.

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?

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.

I have tingles and chills after watching this!

What a master Kenneth is. The combination of imagery and perfect music evokes an utterly erotic sensation in the viewer.

Without explicitly showing anything that would be considered taboo it still manages to cause the viewer to feel vaguely "naughty". As if they are being a voyeur. Ideas of sexuality permeate. Secret delights.

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.