Anger Me 2006
Distributed by Frameline, 145 Ninth St., Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94103; 415-703-8650
Produced by Varlo Vitali, Elio Gelmini.
Directed by Elio Gelmini
DVD, color, 72 min.
College - Adult
Gay and Lesbian Studies, Film Studies
Date Entered: 06/30/2009
Reviewed by Debra Mandel, Head, Media Center, Northeastern University Libraries, Boston, MAAnger Me is a autobiographical video monologue starring Kenneth Anger, the 76 year-old independent “film poet,” editor and producer, and writer of the seamy Hollywood Babylon books. Filmed in a steady close-up before a blue screen, Kenneth recounts his youthful filmmaking experiences and lifelong career in an unassuming monotone, while film images and photographs play behind him.
Kenneth travelled in interesting artistic circles and developed his unique experimental film career in Paris, San Francisco, Rome and New York, making friendships with filmmakers D.W. Griffith, Henri Langois, Maya Deren, Jean Cocteau, Fellini, Pasolini and Jonas Mekas. Fascinated by the occult, Kenneth imbued his short dreamlike films with pagan symbolism and supernatural imagery. Sex researcher Alfred Kinsey befriended Kenneth after he saw his film homoerotic film, Fireworks, for which he was arrested and then cleared on obscenity charges. Anger does not talk directly about his life as a gay man.
Though this documentary’s style is a bit stilted, viewers not familiar with Anger or his work will get a synthesis of his life and a peak at some films. Anger Me is highly recommended for universities with cinema studies and multimedia art departments and courses that survey independent and experimental film.