Tilda Swinton gave a wonderful talk, "In the Spirit of Derek Jarman"
at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August 2002, a truly frank and
impassioned memorial lecture to this brilliant man.
I've often referenced it, most recently while giving a talk about
'the creative producer as collaborator' in tandem with excerpts from
Marc and Ruth's essay for Coding Cultures handbook, examining the
beginnings of Furtherfield amidst the branding and commodification of
art by Saatchi & Saatchi and the like
[Do It With Others (DIWO): contributory media in the Furtherfield
Neighbourhood - http://www.dlux.org.au/codingcultures/handbook.html ]
A couple of quotes from Swinton
"I had run away to join a different circus myself: Planet Jarmania.
You were the first person I met who could gossip about St Thomas
Aquinas and hold a steady camera at the same time. I thought it would
be good to hang out with you for six weeks: I guess we had things to
say. Our outfit was an internationalist brigade. Decidedly pre-
industrial. A little loud, a lot louche. Not always in the best
possible taste. And not quite fit, though it saddened and maddened us
to recognise it, for wholesome family entertainment.
Wholesome families were all the rage then. There was a fashion for a
thing called "normal" and there was a plague abroad called
"perversion". There was no such thing as society, and culture meant
something to do with yogurt (this was before the Sunday Times
educated us that culture means digested opinions about marketable
artistic endeavours)."
...
"The dead hand of good taste has commenced its last great attempt to
buy up every soul on the planet, and from where I'm sitting, it's
going great guns. Art is now indivisible from the idea of culture,
culture from heritage, heritage from tourism, tourism from what I saw
emblazoned recently on the window of an American chain store in
Glasgow - "the art of leisure". That means, incidentally, velours
lounging suits by the ton."
read the (almost full) text here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2002/aug/17/books.featuresreviews
it also appears on the DVD release of Jarmans film "The Last of
England", in my opinion one of Jarman's greatest works.
On 01/02/2010, at 11:03 AM, marc garrett wrote:
Derek Jarman's birthday would be today! Now yesterday ;-)
As a mark of respect to Derek Jarman, I am posting some links to
some of
his works which have inspired me...
Derek Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February, 1994) was an English film
director, stage designer, artist, and writer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Jarman
Jubilee (1977 film), a cult film directed by Derek Jarman. It stars
Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, and a host of punk rockers. The title
refers to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977.
"When Queen Elizabeth I asks her court alchemist to show her
England in
the future, she’s transported 400 years to a post-apocalyptic
wasteland
of roving girl gangs, an all-powerful media mogul, fascistic police,
scattered filth, and twisted sex. With Jubilee, legendary British
filmmaker Derek Jarman channeled political dissent and artistic daring
into a revolutionary blend of history and fantasy, musical and
cinematic
experimentation, satire and anger, fashion and philosophy. With its
uninhibited punk petulance and sloganeering, Jubilee brings together
many cultural and musical icons of the time, including Jordan, Toyah
Willcox, Little Nell, Wayne County, Adam Ant, and Brian Eno (with his
first original film score), to create a genuinely unique,
unforgettable
vision. Ahead of its time and often frighteningly accurate in its
predictions, it is a fascinating historical document and a gorgeous
work
of film art." http://www.criterion.com/films/736
Jubilee was one of those films which influenced my own life
greatly. The
spirit of the movie connected to me personally and (dare I say it)
spiritually, in respect of it triggering off various inner feelings
which before laid ungrounded. From then on, art, punk and everything
else fell into place...
Here is a snippet of Jubilee on Youtube
BEYOND THE ENDLESS FUTURE CITY part 1 (Amyl Nitrate Lesson 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmidfMeK7AE&feature=related
Escena de Ballet de Jubilee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEn5ldq8O4
Amyl Nitrate - Rule Britannia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlL0D5BF2Ok&feature=related
--------------------------------------
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (music video directed by Derek Jarman).
"The Queen Is Dead", starts with a soundbite from Bryan Forbes' 1962
British film The L-Shaped Room. Another instance of Morrissey's
fascination with '60s British cinema. The soundbite is Courtneidge's
character nostalgically singing the World War I song "Take Me Back to
Dear Old Blighty".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5IFl7uCis
--------------------------------------
The Devils.
"The Devils is a 1971 British horror film directed by Ken Russell. It
stars Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the
1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the
1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book."
|Derek Jarman was responsible for the film's production design. The
film
is a dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain
Grandier, a 17th century French priest executed for witchcraft."
"A highly controversial film which has a history of censorship. The
film
is a strong condemnnation of religious institutions such as the
Catholic
Church and organized religion in general. This, combined with its
unrelentingly graphic depictions of sex and violence, has led to its
history of censorship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devils_(film)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devils_(film)
I remember reading The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, an amazing
book. Oh yes, at a young age the film itself blew my mind...
The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8Xgm1u_SF4
That's my fave selection, any other suggestions?
Wishing all well.
marc
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