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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A selection of short films by Kenneth Anger,
By
This review is from: Magic Lantern Cycle 1: Fireworks, Puce Moment, Rabbit's Moon, Eaux d'Artifice, Kustom Kar Kommandos [VHS] (VHS Tape)
More than half a lifetime ago I was in art school, studying film, and at that time Kenneth Anger was one of my major heroes. Another one of my heroes was Aleister Crowley, who is also a hero of Kenneth Anger and a key to watching many Anger's films. Since then Aleister Crowley has become something I "used to be into" (it feels like several lifetimes ago), so when I now view Kenneth Anger films it's not only with the eyes of a man whose been middle-aged for some time, but also it's with the sensibilities of a man who has zero interest or appreciation of the occult. The Phoenix Library has a copy of this video and I checked it out a few years back for a week (I believe they have since lost their copy, though I'm not sure). I was familiar with all the films in this collection since the school I went to had copies of most of these 16 mm films and during the period I attended Kenneth Anger was a regular visiting artist, presenting his work usually once a year. But like I said, that was a long time ago. I was disappointed to find that "Rabbit Moon" has since become shorter and less accessible, no longer having a soundtrack of early 60's music, songs like: "There's A Moon Out Tonight", "I Only Have Eyes For You" and another I believe was called "There Will Be Tears On My Pillow Tonight". Instead it was replaced by some obnoxious song that didn't convey any of the original meaning and the feeling that I was anticipating. And what's worse, this one terrible song is repeated! I'm sure Anger probably had trouble getting the rights to use the prior music he had on the early 1970's version of "Rabbit Moon", but the solution he found to the problem, as well as the reediting, had ruined a film that I had fond memories of. I remember when I first saw it I thought was one of the corniest movies I'd ever seen. But I grew to love it. The film I now like best in this collection is the quirky "Puce Moment", which I once thought was the weakest and most expendable of all his films. But age has got a hold of me and I responded to the images and the music, the way the two both complimented and contended with each other, relaying an unusually poignant (also eerie and humorous) statement on narcissism. "Eau D Artifice", "Kustom Kar Kommandos" and "Fireworks" (which I like, pretty much, in that order) were how I remembered them -- though "Fireworks" seemed less compelling now that I know Kenneth Anger was over 20 years old and not 17 when he made it (like his hero, Aleister Crowley, Anger likes to manipulate his image and his own history in ways most of us would find a little less than honest). Despite all the above complaints I'm still recommending this video. And I'm a little sad Mystic Fire Video has stopped making it (as I'm sad Kenneth Anger has done little work since the 1970s). I recently bought a DVD copy of "The Experimental Films of Maya Deren" directly from Mystic Fire Video and I asked them on three separate occasions, over their 800 number, if they have any copies of the Kenneth Anger videos (they also used to produced videos of "Lucifer Rising" with "Invocation of My Demon Brother" and "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome"). On each occasion the person on the other end of the line -- a different person each time -- was helpful and pleasant until I asked about the Kenneth Anger films, at which point they became annoyed and said they only offered the videos listed on their Internet site and nothing more. None said "I'll look that up" -- they knew the answer right away -- nor did any give any explanation other than "we no longer offer those selections". Either it's a question they get a lot which they've lost patience with answering or there's some bad blood there between Mystic Fire Video and Kenneth Anger. Given the stormy life of Kenneth Anger, the later is quite possible. My hope is that someday "Criterion Collection" does with the complete works of Kenneth Anger what they did with a selection of Stan Brakhage films by producing a terrific DVD. If you agree please e-mail Criterion with that suggestion. I already have.
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Influential and important...oh and it happens to rock pretty,
By A Customer
This review is from: Magic Lantern Cycle 1: Fireworks, Puce Moment, Rabbit's Moon, Eaux d'Artifice, Kustom Kar Kommandos [VHS] (VHS Tape)
There are not many underground films made by a 17 year-old gay kid on the weekend when his parents were away that I would recommend for the population at large. In fact, this may be the only one. If you appreciate great editing, and can further appreciate the foreshadowing of the styles used in this film, please see it. Be warned, Anger is very often a gateway to other film-makers that have even more unusual histories and sometimes as exceptional films. Others by Anger (though not on Amazon yet) Kustom Kar Komandos and The Rebel.
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bad Copy Corrected -- make this 5 Stars,
By Blazin' Tommy D. (New Argentina formally upstate NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Magic Lantern Cycle 1: Fireworks, Puce Moment, Rabbit's Moon, Eaux d'Artifice, Kustom Kar Kommandos [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Favorable reviews regarding this short film are themselves legendary and all appear to derive from the same source."Mystic Fire Video" had made an extremely bad copy of Mr. Anger's film and no DVD is available. But before Sheldon Rochlin died, I sent the retail purchased VHS copies of KA's films back to Mystic Fire; and after a considerable delay, Mr. Rochlin , himself a well known film maker, telephoned me, apologized and replaced said copies at no fee whatever. A class guy. I'm sorry he's dead. Fireworks is a short B&W silent film circa 1947 regarding a young man out for an evening walk and adventure confronted by the brutality of a group of sailors Its dream like visual expression makes Fireworks a classic.
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