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Reviews (3)

Walk a mile in Jarman's shoes...
Much has been written about this fine work, the last by innovative British filmmaker Derek Jarman.A rumination on AIDS, produced when he was rendered blind by the disease, the film consists of a soundtrack of Jarman's narration surrounded by a collage of music and sound effects; the screen itself is just the color blue, never changing during the running time of the film.Seen in a darkened theater, the blue screen almost staring at you, "Blue" is a very moving experience - you're really put in Jarman's shoes as he takes a journey through a terminal illness that has robbed the filmmaker of his sight.On home video, the impact of what some have criticised as a "gimmick" might be minimized, but "Blue" is a remarkable achievement worthy of checking out.Turn out the lights, screen it on a big tv to fill the room with the solid color and give it a try.It might surprise you.

Beautiful
There's nothing else in the world of cinema like this beautiful brilliant movie, this Blue.From Jubilee to Blue is an amazing arc indeed, and this, Derek Jarman's last film, is a marvel of music and color and poetry.To be with Jarman's film from the opening "O Blue come forth" to the final "I place a delphineum, blue, upon your grave" is to be in the presence of genius.He is deeply missed.

Untitled Blues
"I fall into a blue funk..." says the narrator about 10 minutes into this film. An understatement by far. Blue is a brooding spoken-word epic that traces the mind of a person (Jarman himself) who is in the advanced stages of AIDs. Jarman died from AIDs-related causes in 1994. The text, excerpted from Jarman's sublime book about color, CHROMA, riffs on the nature of the color blue--literally and metaphorically. These are melancholy, but not necessarily sad, meditations on the various "blues" the speaker has experienced throughout his life in general and his sickness in particular. True to the visionary nature of many of Jarman's films (The Last of England and Jubilee, for instance), Blue is a lush, experimental tour-de-force: there are no images accompanying the dialogue in this film, only an empty, glowing, aqua-marine blue screen that overwhelms the potential sadness of this film with a Tabula-Rasa like radiance. Aesthetically, this is a beautiful, but radical choice; viewers of this film will have to focus entirely on the fragmentary dialogue, without the help of images to keep distractions at bay. Politically, this choice sums up Jarman's artistic modus operandi: he is interested in work that leaves plenty of space for the viewer's imagination to fill in the narrative blanks. Jarman's empty blue screen shows the director working to not pin-down the experience of sickness and death too firmly. My only criticism of this films is that sometimes the dialogue becomes too melodramatic, undermining the understated visual component, All in all, however, Blue is an intoxicatingly morose film that, in spite of the lack of images, manages to engage the viewer throughout its duration. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Feature Film-drama    3. Movie   

Editorial Review

This omnibus directors fest brings together 10 different filmmakers making 10 different films based on operatic arias. Jean-Luc Godard is stylistically the boldest, Robert Altman possibly the most imaginative, Franc Roddam celebrates American glitz, and Bruce Beresford is the most sentimental. Nearly all the other filmmakers involved--including Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Julien Temple, Charles Sturridge, Derek Jarman, and Bill Bryden--are (or were, in the case of the late Jarman) world-class talents, but you wouldn't know that from their murky participation here. Read more

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Reviews (12)

An interesting proposal!
You must watch this film as a true artistic experiment and nothing else. It' s a successful encounter of well talented filmmakers who gave the best of themselves in order to create and recreate the Opera and extend the range of its possibilities.
Even the Men Can Cry
There comes a time when you are exposed to a film...to a song...to a photograph...to a piece of history that sends you to a place where you either want to be...or wish to avoid.
The movie that started me on opera
I first saw Aria in the theater back in high school (about 3 million years ago) and only because I wanted to impress a girl way more artistic than myself.Read more

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. Movie    3. Music Videos - Classical   

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Reviews (11)

Tacky and pointless!
This movie was barely above atrocious.The movie is based on a play by Christopher Marlowe.The play, Edward II, is very good!This movie does not do it justice.It is very tacky and poorly made.The first thing a viewer is forced to watch is an unnecessary love scene between two men.The movie itself is not set in any one time period.It is confusing to try and figure out where the characters are, or when they are.The acting is terrible as well.It is more like a soap opera then a movie based on a great literary accomplishment.

Moving and thoughtful
A unique blend of older dialogue and modern dress, all wrapped up in a castle that has seen better days.Thoroughly enjoyed the drama.Great acting by Steve Waddington.Makes me want to look up the entire period in books to see what the whole environment was like back then.Would I recommend the video?Absolutely.Sure wish a DVD version (with extras!!) would rear its head soon.My VHS copy won't last forever! Cheers,Jack

14th Century Gay-Bashing � la Derek Jarmam
Definitely Derek Jarman's most refined film. That said, refined for Jarman is bizarre for most. Read more

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. Feature Film-drama    3. Movie   

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Reviews (11)

Dreadful
I have read all of Shakespeare's plays, seen productions of a majority of them and even acted in and directed some. I do not necessarily believe that Shakespeare must be done in the "traditional" fashion, but I hated this movie.
Art for art's sake
Derek Jarman's vision of The Tempest is a strange but artistic one. Although at times it can be too weird to really take seriously, Jarman's film deserves to be seen by those who love Shakespeare and those who love movies. In The Tempest, Jarman combines elements of traditional Shakespeare, Stanley Kubrick, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show to create an extraordinary vision of the classic play. Baz Luhrmann owes a lot to this movie for his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, as evidenced by the combination of genres, the bizarre imagery, and especially Elisabeth Welch's performance as a Josephine Baker-inspired chanteuse, which mirrors Desiree's incarnation as Billie Holiday in Luhrmann's film. It is worth noting that those who were not open-minded enough to appreciate Luhrmann's film should probably not see this one. A cozy dream for exiled dreamers
Ken Russell's designer on The Devils and Savage Messiah, the late Derek Jarman, made one of my favorite movies out of Shakespeare's most fanciful, yet most forgiving, play.Jarman makes a virtue of his tiny budget, having learned much from his former director about how to stretch one: the shadows, fireplaces, dust and antique clutter of Stoneleigh Abbey make a cozy and believable home in exile for Prospero, for whom "my library was dukedom enough," and for his fond daughter Miranda, who dances and play-acts around the vast, shabby manor like any imaginative child who hasn't known anything else, nor any reason to be ashamed of it.The mood is intimate and vespertine (in the Bjork sense); and for once, clutter is not the symptom of a lowlife or a loser, but the habit of a wistful, brilliant man absorbed in his studies and contemplation.For this alone, I recommend the film to anyone who ever felt like an innocent exile, a misunderstood artist or dreamer.Read more

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. Feature Film-drama   

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Reviews (1)

Tribute to Jarman
"The Garden" is the only (but not last) film I saw by the late gay British director Derek Jarman. I was impressed. Sex and religion, so I've read, seem to be a recurrent theme in Jarman's work. I'm not gonnabrag to much about the "daring" portrayal of homosexuality,although this film clearly sought to make a (subtle) statement. To me itwas refreshing, sensual, and at some point quite erotic. I myself am notgay, but Jarman's experimental touch poses a unabashed alternative to therecent "gay movies" coming out of Hollywood. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Comedies    2. Feature Film-drama    3. Foreign    4. Movie   

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Reviews (4)

Wittgenstein - hard explain as good to see.
There is interesting point in this movie, focus on the people not on a space. I'm a set designer, and always during my research in the movies, I collect my videos, as specialise on a oridinary ideas, and this is one is one of those. I thing, so no one can show better that things, like Derek Jarman. Because, his is special. And I find this work as the best from him. His indicate people with light and color, like a Caravagio painter. They come from anywere and go to anywere Like nothing is so important, have this people around him.

I love this crazy movie!
Wittgenstein was not only a philosophical giant, but also a facinating personality.He was: gay, but conflicted and ashamed of his sexuality; rich, but he gave away his vast fortune and worked as a laborer; brilliant and vain, but always embarrased by his writings; the darling of academia, even though he rejected the entire philosophical tradition; jewish, but a devout christian convert; brave in war, but lacked the courage to face himself or openly support jewish causes during the war. Very accurate snapshot of this quirky Austrian philosopher
This film, which I saw on the big-screen at the Museum of Fine ArtsHouston cinema venue in 1994, was my first introduction to Austrianlinguistic Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.In 1994 I was also beginningmy graduate studies in German at Rice University.I was immediately turnedon to Wittgenstein by the film (scripted by noted British marxist literarycritic Terry Eagleton; --I have come to like Eagleton a great deal also)and have been reading about him and his philosophy ever since.From what Ihave read in Biographies and commentaries by those that knew L.Wittgensteinpersonally, the actor(s) protraying this reclusive, quirky Austrianintellectual do an excellent job in conveying Wittgensteins life,personality, and yes, even some of his philosophy, to an English speakingaudience.Definite "High Brow" entertainment, especially forstudents of Philsophy and the German Language. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Drama    3. Movie   

Editorial Review

Avant-garde spirit and punk-rock attitude combine with iconoclastic results in Derek Jarman's defiantly uncommercial Read more

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Reviews (15)

Punk quality
I saw this film (what I could stand) because I was curious about Toyah Willcox as an actor. I had to go to the end credits to find out which character she was. I was expecting the beautiful woman from the cover of her "Minx" album. Instead, from 1977 I got a sort of chubby teenager playing "Mad", a punk girl with a carot crewcut. Not interesting.
Sex, Drugs and Punk Rock!
Criterion Spine Number: 191
If punk rockers ruled the world...
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. Feature Film-drama    3. Movie   

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Reviews (21)

Feast for the eyes............
.............but not, so much, for the mind.
Strange, massively homoerotic, serene...
This was Derek Jarman's debut films (technically, he co-directed with Paul Humfress, but Humfress was really just there to keep things going if Jarman screwed up...luckily, he didn't).It's actually Jarman's most homoerotic movie.The dialogue is in Latin (a first...eat your heart out, Passion of the Christ fans), and it was street Latin, not proper Latin.Jarman was very specific about the speech because these soldiers were ruffians; they wouldn't be speaking the queen's Latin, so to speak.Many have found the famous painting of St. Sebastiane (which Jarman recreates at the end of the film) very homoerotic, so Jarman indulges quite freely in the erotic aspects of the story.The film has a mythic sheen to it, and it is a film you will never forget.The opening scene at the Roman orgy is very memorable.Jarman started out as Ken Russell's production designer, and this orgy scene seems a homage to him.Brian Eno's music really gives the film an another world feel.NOT for the easily offended.There are massive amounts of male nudity here, but it's shown as natural, which it is.Essential viewing for Jarman fans (or which I include myself).

Deliciously obscene
After my initial dissapointment with Jarman's second film 'Jubilee', I was a bit hesitant to watch 'Sebastiane' but I'm glad I did because it shed some light on the nature and capabilities of this stage of Jarman's career - he was ambitious, bold, and very resourcefull - this is one of the finest low budget productions I have seen. This is the story of Sebastiane the man who died for his christian beliefs - but in this adaptation the focus is more on the homosexual tendencies of Roman military - it is almost a study in contrast the repression and solitiude of Sebastiane against the indulgences and vulgarity of Rome. There is also a beautiful soundtrack by Brian Eno. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Foreign    2. Foreign Film - Other    3. Foreign Film [Dub Or Subtitle]    4. Gay/Lesbian-Themed Film    5. International    6. Movie   

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Reviews (3)

Those Who Dislike This Opus Do Not Understand It.
I find doing reviews and giving stars to rate works of cinematic art very difficult because the standards that each of us reviewers apply are obviously quite different.If a viewer is expecting to see some sort of terrifying series of images (prompted by some of the cover notes) - in other words, a kind of Vincent-Pricean flick - they s/he is going to be perplexed by the pace, the imagery, the monologue the symbolism, and the haunting bittersweet ending, then s/he will be utterly lost.If one is homophobic, s/he will outright dismiss the value of this work without doing even the most cursory examination of the film's merits and structure.
the angelic conversation
I just saw it after buying it used.i hated it.there is no dialogue except for a woman reading a poem and strange music.i only watched half the film and turned it off.i won't say what i really thought of this.maybe to someone it would be good but i didn't like it at all. i am sorry i bought it. i only bought it because it had a guy in it that i saw in another movie and loved.

-- TEA AND SODOMY --
I wanted to see this film because I'd owned the soundtrack for some time; COIL is one of my favorite bands. Frankly,I was a surprised by my viewing experience (surprised, because I had only ever seen one Jarman film priorto this one-- WITTGENSTEIN, a film with an comparably linear narrativestructure).My impression of THE ANGELIC CONVERSATION is that it was agood idea on paper, and probably very cheap to produce, and someone owedJarman a favor, and it was really a nice weekend to go for a bit of jaunton the Isle of Wight (or whatever remote Britannic locale supplied theuncertain backdrop of the film), etc..If your idea of a good time iswatching a bunch of men dressed inbed sheets dragging logs through astream in slow motion, while listening to Dame Judi Dench gnomically intonesome of Shakespeare's sonnets, you're in for a treat.If this isn't enoughto crisp your biscuits, there are, alternately, several segments (one can'treally call these free-floating images 'scenes') that take place in a cave,wherein several young men seem to be annointing another young man sittingon a throne.The symbolism is implicitly homoerotic, as is the entiresubject matter of the film (most of Shakespeare's sonnets are presumed tohave been written from the elder man to his young lover, Harry Wriothsley,Duke of Southampton).But what exactly all this men-bathing-men businessis supposed to mean, other than a vague ocular parallel to orallyarticulated material, is a mystery to me.My advice is to drop some acidbefore viewing this film, and follow it up with Ken Russel's SALOME'S LASTDANCE. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Drama    3. Movie   

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Reviews (21)

Feast for the eyes............
.............but not, so much, for the mind.
Strange, massively homoerotic, serene...
This was Derek Jarman's debut films (technically, he co-directed with Paul Humfress, but Humfress was really just there to keep things going if Jarman screwed up...luckily, he didn't).It's actually Jarman's most homoerotic movie.The dialogue is in Latin (a first...eat your heart out, Passion of the Christ fans), and it was street Latin, not proper Latin.Jarman was very specific about the speech because these soldiers were ruffians; they wouldn't be speaking the queen's Latin, so to speak.Many have found the famous painting of St. Sebastiane (which Jarman recreates at the end of the film) very homoerotic, so Jarman indulges quite freely in the erotic aspects of the story.The film has a mythic sheen to it, and it is a film you will never forget.The opening scene at the Roman orgy is very memorable.Jarman started out as Ken Russell's production designer, and this orgy scene seems a homage to him.Brian Eno's music really gives the film an another world feel.NOT for the easily offended.There are massive amounts of male nudity here, but it's shown as natural, which it is.Essential viewing for Jarman fans (or which I include myself).

Deliciously obscene
After my initial dissapointment with Jarman's second film 'Jubilee', I was a bit hesitant to watch 'Sebastiane' but I'm glad I did because it shed some light on the nature and capabilities of this stage of Jarman's career - he was ambitious, bold, and very resourcefull - this is one of the finest low budget productions I have seen. This is the story of Sebastiane the man who died for his christian beliefs - but in this adaptation the focus is more on the homosexual tendencies of Roman military - it is almost a study in contrast the repression and solitiude of Sebastiane against the indulgences and vulgarity of Rome. There is also a beautiful soundtrack by Brian Eno. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Foreign Film - Other   

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Reviews (5)

The amazing, underappreciated Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman is probably one of the most misunderstood and underappreciated filmmakers ever in the history of British cinema.He made very artistic, personal films in the 1980's, a decade not known for its dedication to cinematic (or any kind of) art.This, along with The Garden, are, in my opinion, his 2 best films.Shooting freely in video, super 8, 16mm, and 35mm, he creates his own fantastical universe.He is as big as an auteur as Fellini, Tarkovsky, Greenaway, etc., etc.. It's an amazing universe, as fantastic and as unique as anything in cinema.In this film, here is no dialogue, just narration, music, sound, and image.If there is a theme running through it, it's mostly about the dissolution of England under Margaret Thatcher, told from a very subjective and artistic viewpoint.Despite some flaws (certain scenes going on too long), the film remains a haunting, beautiful film.Jarman needs to be rediscovered.He's not very well known even in cinematic circles.He's mostly categorized under "queer cinema", which is misleading.Jarman was a homosexual, and was very involved in the politics of the UK towards gay rights.But there is so much more to him and his films.He was a novelist, painter, and poet as well.His films did deal with gay issues, but they didn't revolve around them.This is a great place to start with Jarman...
Camera... sound... revolution...
"The last of England" is one of Jarman's collage movies. With that I mean that these films show no straight A to B narrative, no real main characters or meaningful dialogues; it's just an accumulation of stark, surreal and offbeat images, with highly experimental music and soundscapes, and a lot of underlying anger. More about that anger later on.
Boring and pretentious
I've enjoyed other Jarman films: Edward II, Caravaggio, even Sebastian. But this one just doesn't connect.Blurry pictures of people shooting up drugs, pretending to have sex with posters of Caravaggio paintings, staging what appears to be a wedding.There's no dialog, just screeching music and voice-over readings that don't have much to do with the visuals.The point seems to be that the world (or Thatcher's England, anyhow) is an awful place.Well, you can watch the TV news and get the same message with less eyestrain. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Feature Film-drama    3. Movie   

Editorial Review

Avant-garde spirit and punk-rock attitude combine with iconoclastic results in Derek Jarman's defiantly uncommercial Read more

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Reviews (15)

Punk quality
I saw this film (what I could stand) because I was curious about Toyah Willcox as an actor. I had to go to the end credits to find out which character she was. I was expecting the beautiful woman from the cover of her "Minx" album. Instead, from 1977 I got a sort of chubby teenager playing "Mad", a punk girl with a carot crewcut. Not interesting.
Sex, Drugs and Punk Rock!
Criterion Spine Number: 191
If punk rockers ruled the world...
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
Read more

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Reviews (1)

never seen..
I appeared in this, and other Derek Jarman films, but have never seen them.. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classics (Silents/Avant Garde)    2. Drama    3. Movie   

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Reviews (1)

never seen..
I appeared in this, and other Derek Jarman films, but have never seen them.. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classical    2. Performing Arts - Opera   

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Reviews (1)

More art than biography
Having recently read The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr, I've been pursuing other material about the early Baroque artist Michaelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (ca.1571-1610).Derek Jarman's cinematography in this hard to find film is stunning.It's a pleasure to see (now familiar) Caravaggio works being painted from live models.It was helpful to have some knowledge of Caravaggio's life prior to viewing this film.And be forwarned that Jarman chose to include many anachronisms, such as tuxedos, cigarette smoking, and locomotive noises. ... Read more