I second that! In my 20 years of collecting videos (from the early days of laserdisc), this is easily the deepest calendar year of "key" and "under-represented" film releases onto home video......and we're only halfway through the year.
Oh man, yes. BTW: there's news of a 1940s Mizoguchi box from France over in the MoC Mizo thread... just another one, and yes, we're not even halfway through.....
Cinematic magician, legendary provocateur, author of the infamous HOLLYWOOD BABYLON books and creator of some of the most striking and beautiful works in the history of film, Kenneth Anger is a singular figure in post-war American culture.
A major influence on everything from the films of Martin Scorsese, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and David Lynch to the pop art of Andy Warhol to MTV, Anger's work serves as a talisman of universal symbols and personal obsessions, combining myth, artifice and ritual to render cinema with the power of a spell or incantation.
Covering the second half of Anger's career, from his legendary SCORPIO RISING to his breathtaking phantasmagoria LUCIFER RISING, Fantoma is very proud to complete the cycle with this long-awaited final volume of films by this revolutionary and groundbreaking maverick, painstakingly restored and presented on DVD for the first time anywhere in the world.
Contains the films:
SCORPIO RISING (1963)
KUSTOM KAR KOMMANDOS (1965)
INVOCATION OF MY DEMON BROTHER (1969)
RABBIT'S MOON (1979 Version)
LUCIFER RISING (1981)
Special Features:
-High-definition transfers from newly restored elements
-Screen specific audio commentary by Kenneth Anger
-Anger's 2002 film THE MAN WE WANT TO HANG
-Rare outtakes and behind-the-scenes images
-Restoration Demonstrations
-Restored stereo soundtrack for LUCIFER RISING, re-mastered from the original session tapes
-Alternate soundtrack for LUCIFER RISING, composed by Bobby Beausoleil
-Alternate "War Version" of LUCIFER RISING
-A 48 page book with a written appreciations of Kenneth Anger by legendary filmmakers, exclusive to this release, extensive notes for each film, rare photos, and more
Excellent news, even more due the succes the first volume seems to have had. But why is Mouse Heaven omitted? (Since I reckon there won't be a third volume).
I'm sure Fantoma's infringed plenty of copyrights and trademarks to get these sets out, but releasing Mouse Heaven on DVD is probably the legal equivalent of jumping into a shark tank with a full-body meat suit.
Well, I'm very late in seeing the two Fantoma discs, but having watched them now over the last few days, just a few thoughts:
Firstly, reading through this thread, I'm surprised how little praise "Rabbit's Moon" gets here. The short version with that awful rock music on the second disc can easily be dismissed, but the longer one? Plain beautiful, I'd say. I loved every moment of it. Brilliant use of somewhat sentimental 50's music, which nevertheless created a great counterpart and atmosphere. And those wonderful colours...ahm...very,very stylish and enchanting, it reminded me partly of something out of Minnelli or some of the more 'fluffy' bits of Powell.
Same for "Eaux d'artifice", Cocteau wouldn't have done that any better.
Curiously, I was rather let down by almost everything on disc2. These were all films that I'd seen before, ages ago, and I remembered them to be much better than I found them now. "Demon brother" struck me as a somewhat childish play with LSD-induced fantasies, it looked exactly like my parents would imagine some 'Satanic' black mass looks like. Very clichéd, and to me, not convincing. And while I was quite blown away by some of the visuals in "Lucifer", the same applies here. It is all so DAMN obvious. Crowley here, Crowley there, a little bit of Egyptian lore thrown in, and I really,really HOPE that that UFO at the end was meant to be ironic....
Both films for me don't have anything of the poetry that flows through "Pleasure Dome" (another highlight).
I can see that these films were all pretty provocative when they came out, but I think they simply haven't aged well. And if I look at the occult/mysticist themes and how they are handled, well, give me Jarman or Jodorowsky(!!) any time over these. I quite liked that extra film with the Crowley artworks, though.
I've been watching a few Anger shorts lately and like them quite a bit. One thing I can't understand though is why people like the longer Rabbit's Moon more than the shorter one. The shorter one, in my opinion, has much much better music and even though the longer one has more to it, I still prefer the short one.
A friend filled me in on some of the occult imagery in Lucifer Rising (since I'm clueless to it all), but I immensely enjoyed the two volumes. Except for Invocation of My Demon Brother, which I couldn't stand because of the music. Sorry.
Scorpio Rising is a lot of fun, thanks to the energetic camera work and music. Even though it's on grainy 16mm color reversal, it gives a more "artistic" look than more professional photography. The lighting is often great, like in the "Heat Wave" segment. Lucifer Rising is a visual and aural joy, even if the symbolism takes a lot of effort to understand. Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome is almost overwhelming, but beautiful.
Scorpio Rising is probably my favorite of all of them. Highly re-watchable. The awesome pop soundtrack doesn't hurt, either!
As for the shorter efforts... Fireworks is impressive for being essentially a "student" film. Actually, I've seen student films with less creativity and craft put into the images. In college. Eaux D'artiface is absolutely stunning (and Vivaldi makes anything better). Puce Moment and Kustom Kar Kommandos are visually appealing pieces. Too bad Anger didn't get to expand on them since there was a lot of potential.
As for Rabbit's Moon, I prefer the 1971 long cut. Great use of pantomime, but more graceful. The '79 short cut is a bit too manic, but I still like it.
Overall, Anger's films are all about the visuals. Yes, there's the symbolism in many, but it's true art on film.
Fantoma's DVDs are perfection. I'm amazed by how well they cleaned the films. The stereo sound for Lucifer Rising is fantastic, too. Anger's commentaries are terrific. He deserves a pat on the back for being so informative instead of being a "Captain Obvious" about what he's seeing. Unfortunately, I only saw these via Netflix, so I didn't get to see the booklets.
