Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965)

Very disappointing...

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

At least this is what I was thinking all the time when watching these slightly over 3 minutes. It's a 1970 film by famous short movie director Kenneth Anger and basically shows us a guy cleaning his car and then driving off with it. Anger has always used colors to emphasize the contents of his work and here pink is his dominant choice. I am not too sure how homosexuality was perceived in 1970, but the schmaltzy pop music together with the visuals clearly give off such a vibe here. And even if it was not Anger's idea how this would be perceived, it is interesting to see how perception changed over the decades. Anyway, Anger was in his 40s already when he made this, so in the middle of his career pretty much as he started shooting films already way before his 20th birthday. Today he is almost 90 and still active. I thought this was an interesting watch, but it does not have as much depth as I hoped it would. Don't feel the need to watch it anytime soon again and cannot really recommend it, but still I believe this is among Kenneth Anger's more successful works. Also pay attention to all the K's used in the title. A KKK reference? Or just the first letter from the director's name? Your pick.

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.

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.

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.