Kustom Kar Kommandos

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?

This is from the second DVD of a set called "The Films of Kenneth Anger"--a collection of avant garde films by this odd film maker. I found the first disk to be more satisfying--the second has a lot about Aleister Crowley and Satanism that I found a bit dreary.

KUSTOM KAR KOMMANDOS is about the closest you'll come to making love to a hot rod! Kenneth Anger met a guy with a beautiful custom-detailed hot rod and got him to agree to having the car and himself filmed. There is no dialog, just a slowly moving camera with deliberately intense colors. It's like a love song or poem all about the beauty and lines of the car and is the sort of film that hot rod enthusiasts might love. Otherwise, most will see it as a reasonably short and pleasant stroll down memory lane--but not a must-see film.

There is not a lot of things to say about that film, it is only 3 min. What is remarkable is how Anger is capable of sexualizing objects and render the 1980s look 15 years in advance.

Oh, how I enjoy the time I think back at those memories of Kenneth Anger's films, especially his 'Magick Lantern Cycle'. Kustom Kar Kommandos is undoubtly of great importance for later directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.

Later of great importance, the whole carscene is about nothing else but a guy who really adores his own car. So much that he cherishes his vehicle while washing it. There isn't very much I can say about it, it's simply perfect. If you haven't seen this short feature, you can't exactly know what you're talking about when you say you love those satiric car moments in films of Scorsese and company.

It's more in it's place thanks to the great soundtrack: the Paris Sisters sing 'Dream Lover', and then you see images of a guy (named Sandy Trent?!) who's fascinated by his "dream" and becomes the "lover". Hence, "Dream Lover".

I like Angers short films, especially Scorpio Rising (it became my favourite movie ever seen since), but my second favourite is surely this almost unbeatable work of art, 'Kustom Kar Kommandos'.

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.