Pretty Good

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

This documentary tries to evoke Derek Jarman in his own time. It mostly uses excerpts from a few films (17 they say) and footage from Derek Jarman's own personal video and 8 mm library, mostly in this latter case what was used in Glitterbug. It also uses footage from an interview he gave at the end of his life before he was taken sick and some short sequences of him in his sickness. It also uses footage from various archives and sources about the fight of gays and lesbians in Great Britain to get rid of the segregationist rejection they were the victims of up to rather recently. The documentary starts with some images from Derek Jarman's infancy with his parents and family. The text accompanying these images is by Tilda Swinton, narrated by the same with some images of her in Present day London or at Derek Jarman's cottage.It sure is a tribute to the memory of this film maker, and it is deserved first because of his active participation in social issues like free sexual orientation as well as the more general question of social segregation. But the main interest is not at this level. The documentary enables us to define Derek Jarman as different from most film makers of his time. They used cinematographic technique along with a cinematographic vision. They were, and still are, contained, and some might say narrowly contained, in the film industry, the film technology and the film narrative genre. Derek Jarman is at heart and in the deepest convictions of his mind a visual person who sees the world with the eyes of a painter and he makes his films with such an orientation, that has nothing sexual this time: he is painting the screen with his camera and editing bench. That's why he is so at ease with Caravaggio and why he reduces Wittgenstein to a purely visual image of a parrot in a cage itself in a cage with Wittgenstein imprisoned in it. That does not explain the thinking of the philosopher, or the genesis of this thinking, or even the relation between the philosopher, language, logic and the world. It only provides us with an image that is a visual metaphor of all the rest. That makes Derek Jarman the British counterpart or equivalent of the American Andy Warhol, including his factory. Derek Jarman represents his generation and many of the things he did can only be evoked with nostalgia. That time is gone. A few films might yet survive because they reach beyond the simple direct evocation of the world in the 1960s-70s- 80s, like Caravaggio, Sebastiane, maybe Wittgenstein. But even what he says about love is totally passé. Love cannot be reduced to sex. Love does not imply sex necessarily. Love is a mental, neuronal and sentimental passion, whereas sex is a hormonal desire and hunt. That was a time when promiscuity was the norm, and we can think of the animated film Fritz the Cat to have an idea of how extreme that promiscuity could be, how tragic too when it becomes Zabriskie Point. At the same time in those years sexual orientation was a stake for those who wanted to define themselves as gay or lesbian, but after 1968, and even some time before, it was trendy and even a must in some social areas to be bisexual, to try both sides of the coin, to be ACDC. Today after the tragedy of AIDS we have discovered safe sex for everyone, because AIDS is not a question of sexual orientation, and we are reaching in some countries and even at the UN the point when sexual orientation is becoming a basic human right and one fundamental freedom that can be visible in public like all freedoms should be.I will personally regret the quick image of Margaret Thatcher in connection with the political struggle around sexual freedom. She was moderate in many ways when Ronald Reagan purely declared AIDS to be a judgment and punishment from god against sodomites at a time when most states in the USA considered sodomy, including heterosexual, as a felony if not a crime. It is true to make that connection with Margaret Thatcher but it becomes circumstantial although the question is by far universal.A good testimony about an artist who deserves it and a time that was so contradictory that it looks prehistoric if not even antediluvian. Was life really like that? Oh yes, but it does not speak to us any more. Happy were those who went through promiscuity and multi-orientation without getting sick, not to mention dying! But that was pure luck because we did not even think about it. We just did it and woke up oblivious and refreshed on the following morning: we picked our clothing, tried to dress before leaving and went back to life outside in the street, with a little bit of streaking across the front garden. In fact we do not remember those we had sex with so much. But we will never forget those we refused to have any intercourse with. The world was upside down and that does not mean it has straightened up, far from it.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

There have been precious few true innovators of Gay Cinema (if you can really call it that). Sure, great directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Pedro Almodovar were/are openly gay and can boast an impressive back catalogue of films, but few have tackled the portrayal and attitudes towards homosexuality with such an eagerness than Britain's own Derek Jarman. Derek is a loving recollection of Jarman's life and work, spoken by Jarman himself, intertwined with visuals and poetry by Jarman's muse, Tilda Swinton.I have only seen one of his films - his most popular, 1986's excellent Caravaggio - which puts me in a slightly awkward position in reviewing this documentary, having relatively little experience of his art. But after viewing it, although it runs at a slight 75 minutes, I feel prepared to tackle his films with more insight into his thinking. He discusses his childhood growing up with a military father and a free- spirited mother in Middlesex, and then his artistic awakening at the Slade School of Art, where he fell in with many radical artists that help mould his own output. His first film, Sebastiane (1976) caused a massive stir in its open depiction of homosexual desire, featuring highly erotic, slow-motion of scenes of love-making (and an erection!).Jarman would fall in love with the punk movement, and directed many 8mm shorts and low-budget, sometimes avant-garde features, as well as music videos for the likes of The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys. But it would be his activity in Gay Rights activism that many of his friends and colleagues appreciate and love him for, which is clear from the words of Swinton. She remembers him in melancholy voice-over tinged with sadness and longing, as Jarman died of AIDS-related illness in 1994. During his final years, he was losing his sight and health, which led to him making Blue (1993), a film consisting solely of blue imagery as Jarman narrates. Derek is an insightful and constantly informative documentary, which can be enjoyed by Jarman fans and newcomers alike, showing Jarman as an extremely likable yet truly under-appreciated film-maker.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

It seems common enough that artists are often far less interesting then their art when it is good. A great deal makes sense when this is examined. But it is a particular risk of an artist that someone else might try and make art of their life. What seems to have happened here is the expected dilution.This man made two extraordinary films early in his life: Tempest and Jubilee. Both of these, incidentally featured Tonya Willcox, a profound presence. Later in life, he turned himself into his own performance, and thus became dull. Tonya was replaced by Tilda Swinton who would herself do some profound things — but not in a Jarman film.Then in further dilution of power, this life is turned into a film, created and narrated by Tilda. The rough shape of it her offscreen narration while she intensely looks at the camera from London streets. The message is that Derek was a true prophet of the unprocessed truth. This is interspersed with filmed interviews of the man and shots of the decorated cottage where he spent his last days.The film itself is sensible and direct. It carries an obvious truth. It is well made. We know when it and his life will end, and they both end gracefully. None of these things are true of a good Jarman film. Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

... and to be quite frank, not sure if I do after watching this documentary. More contributing to cast a spell of mysticism on Mr. Derek J., this might be quite a bummer for everyone who hasn't heard of him either ...Having said that, Tilda S. does a great job as narrator, there are quite a few interesting bits on this man (who was anything but "normal", but you can decide for yourself, if that is for better or worse). And while some might judge him for his likings (or dis likings), that wouldn't be fair in my eyes. While this man was quite controversial, the best thing to do before watching this movie, is to get to know the guy, just to have some basic knowledge on him. Again having said that, this also means, that this movie wasn't really aimed at people who never heard of him (like myself) ... Your choice!