Kenneth Anger — Director (16)

Movie

Foreplay (2008)
Foreplay IMDb TMDB
The training practice of a soccer team – close-up of feet, body parts, muscles – entirely silent except for the noises of the ball being hit – a sort of minimalist, crisp, homoerotic version of Philippe Parreno's and Douglas Gordon's Zidane – A 21st Century Portrait.

Movie

Magick Lantern Cycle (2009)
Magick Lantern Cycle IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 魔幻灯笼循环 / 魔幻燈籠循環
Cinematic magician, legendary provocateur, and author of Hollywood Babylon, Kenneth Anger was a unique figure in post-war American culture. His iconic short films are characterised by a mystical-symbolic visual language and phantasmagorical-sensual opulence that underscores the medium’s transgressive potential. Anger’s work fundamentally shaped the aesthetics of 1960s and 1970s subcultures, the visual lexicon of pop and music videos and queer iconography. These nine films form the basis of Anger’s reputation as one of the most influential pioneers of avant-garde film and video art. Fireworks, 1947, 14 min Puce Moment, 1949, 6 min Rabbit's Moon, 1950/1971, 16 min Eaux d'Artifice, 1953, 13 min Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, 1954, 37 min Scorpio Rising, 1964, 28 min Kustom Kar Kommandos, 1965, 3 min Invocation of My Demon Brother, 1969, 11 min Lucifer Rising, 1981, 27 min

Movie

Rabbit's Moon (1971)
Rabbit's Moon
★ 7.2 5 ratings
other title: 兔子的月亮 / 兔月亮 …
Rabbit's Moon is a short avant-garde film directed by Kenneth Anger in the style of both mime and Kabuki theatre. The title refers to the Japanese myth about a rabbit on the moon. The story focuses on Pierrot trying to obtain the unattainable moon. Harlequin appears and entertains Pierrot with sword play, juggling, and dance. Pierrot remains distraught, so Harlequin summons Columbina to help uplift Pierrot.

Movie

Puce Moment (1949)
Puce Moment
★ 7.2 8 ratings
other title: 紫褐色时刻 / 갈색의 순간 …
This film resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.

Movie

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 8.2 6 ratings
Kenneth Anger actor: Samson De Brier / 马乔里·卡梅伦 …
other title: 极乐大厦揭幕 / 쾌락 궁전의 창립 …
A Slavonic Mass by Leos Janácek plays as historical figures, biblical characters, and mythical creatures gather in the pleasure dome. Aphrodite, Lilith, Isis, Kali, Astarte, Nero, Pan, and the Great Beast and the Scarlet Woman are part of a visual feast of images superimposed, hallucinations, and the spirit of decadence of the "Yellow '90s." Mythological images from Aleister Crowley, cabalistic symbols, artifice, and magic combine to render the pleasure dome both as prison and as celebration.

Movie

Eaux d'Artifice (1970)
Eaux d'artifice WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 6.7 6 ratings
other title: 水的诡计 / Eaux d'artifice …
A woman dressed elegantly walks purposely through the water gardens at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, as the music of Vivaldi's Winter movement of The Four Seasons plays. Heavy red filters give a blue cast to the light; water plays across stone, and fountains send it into the air. No words are spoken. Baroque statuary and the sensuous flow of water are back lit. Anger calls it water games.

Movie

Fireworks (2006)
Fireworks WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 5.9 16 ratings
肯尼思·安格 actor: 肯尼思·安格 / Bill Seltzer …
other title: 花火 / 煙花 …
A dissatisfied dreamer awakes, goes out in the night seeking a 'light' and is drawn through the needle's eye. A dream of a dream, he returns to bed less empty than before.