Rabbit's Moon

I love it! The music is wonderful. The symbolism and characters are awesome.

The story is about Pierrot trying to obtain the unattainable, the moon. He struggles to bring it to him but cannot. Harlequin appears to entertain Pierrot (sword play, juggling, and dance). Pierrot is distraught, so Harlequin summons his girlfriend, Columbine to help assess the situation. Columbine is a showy babe, Pierrot knows. She's useless as for getting the moon for Pierrot. Tired from a hard night's work and mishap, Pierrot gives up. All that in 7 minutes! It's pretty neat for that era of film.

I have only seen the 7 minute version, so I may be missing out on a lot. Anyway, here is the rundown of events in "Rabbit's Moon". Somebody dressed in a clown suit is standing outside looking at the moon. A rabbit appears. Then a court jester appears and does a mime routine. Finally, a woman appears and does a terrible dance. The End.

Maybe I am just too stupid to understand the artistic integrity of this short. All I know is that it is boring and, in my humble opinion, a waste of celluloid and talent.

There are apparently two versions of this fairly poetic music video all done in mime (and as Anger says in the audio commentary it's indebted to the 'Comedia Dell'arte' in Italy as much as it's in France, the latter where he shot it in 1950), and I saw the one that Anger recut and put a new song to. I'd be curious to see the original version, or if there's more than one as it had doo-wop music and was less sped up. In the 7 minute 1979 version, it's sped up to about 20 frames per second (that's my best guess) so it's not so fast that it gets into Keystone Cops or something, but it's highly stylized.

As to what it's about... well, it's a clown having all of the emotions while under the moon at night. Then another clown comes and the song - It Came in the Night by A Raincoat, which is a ridiculously catchy and fun song that feels like a precursor (or just was part of) New Wave - replays itself. Poetic intent is the name of the game here, and Kenneth Anger wants to have this very sweet-somber-sad story about love being so far away in the moon and then when the other woman clown comes it's... I'm not sure.

Like a music video you can simply enjoy it as a series of shots that cut extremely well to music, which seems to me after seeing a few of his films the director's specialty, and the actor Andre Soubeyran is graceful and a wonderful actor. But having to look up the synopsis of what it's about after seeing it to know that it has a story and an arc is kind of frustrating. Beautiful look and feel, and I'm sure I'd watch it again simply for the technical achievement. Not as impactful as some of his other films, and yet it's still highly watchable and pleasurable as far as cinematography and editing go. 6.5/10

Kenneth Anger is among my personal favorite filmmakers. He's extremely underrated, influential, and clever-and has made many of the finest experimental movies of all time. "Rabbit's Moon" is definitely unlike the typical Anger film. While films liked "Scorpio Rising" and "Fireworks" depict strong violence and sexuality throughout, "Rabbit's Moon" is a lighthearted, almost comic fantasy short. It's beautifully made, the sets and cinematography are gorgeous (this is easily the most visually appealing Anger film that I've seen, because all of his other works look a lot cheaper), and it has a dreamlike and surreal mood throughout that really enhances its magic in my opinion. The film is weird, poetic, fun, stunning, and probably the only Kenneth Anger movie suitable for family viewing.

Simple story, but exceptional directing feating.

Pierrot waxes romantic, entranced by the moon. Harlequin appears and bullies him, then uses a magic lantern to project an image of Columbine. Pierrot tries to court the illusory Columbine unsuccessfully, then enters a mystical moon-realm from which he returns dead. The music is awesome, the color palette is awesome. I also loved the very physical performances and production design.