Kenneth Anger's masterpiece remains one of the most fascinating, challenging and intriguing avant-garde films ever made. The movie has a brilliantly simple structure, punctuated by 13 popular songs. Each episode concentrates on different activities performed by various members of a motorcycle gang. They clean their motorcycles, dress in leather jackets, read comic books, sniff cocaine, engage in homoerotic horseplay and join motorcycle races. Parallels are drawn between motorcycle gangs, Jesus' disciples and Nazi storm-troopers. Images of sadism and masochism abound. The film concentrates on fetishes, paraphernalias and pop culture icons, trying to link them with images of hate, cruelty and violence. One of the earliest post-modernist films, superbly edited and incredibly effective in creating an atmosphere of hatred, paranoia and sexual frustration.
June 14, 1970
Scorpio Rising (1964) *****
Kenneth Anger's masterpiece remains one of the most fascinating, challenging and intriguing avant-garde films ever made. The movie has a brilliantly simple structure, punctuated by 13 popular songs. Each episode concentrates on different activities performed by various members of a motorcycle gang. They clean their motorcycles, dress in leather jackets, read comic books, sniff cocaine, engage in homoerotic horseplay and join motorcycle races. Parallels are drawn between motorcycle gangs, Jesus' disciples and Nazi storm-troopers. Images of sadism and masochism abound. The film concentrates on fetishes, paraphernalias and pop culture icons, trying to link them with images of hate, cruelty and violence. One of the earliest post-modernist films, superbly edited and incredibly effective in creating an atmosphere of hatred, paranoia and sexual frustration.
