JANUARY 27, 1995
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
19
EVENINGS OUT
Series examines Derek Jarman's last five films
one
by John Ewing
When British filmmaker Derek Jarman died of AIDS last February at the age of 52, he was of the most visible and celebrated gay filmmakers in the world. Homoeroticism had figured prominently in his work from his very first feature, 1976's Sebastiane, an unorthodox account of the Christian martyr.
Yet there were other strains and sensibilities in his movies as well-punk, autobiography, radical politics, religious iconography. His films ranged from literary adaptations (The Tempest, The Angelic, Conversation) and portrait films (Caravaggio) to musicals (Jubilee, War Requiem) and abstract filmed diaries (Imagining October). His "stock company” included actors Tilda Swinton and Nigel Terry.
After Jarman found out he was HIV positive in 1986, his movies took an apocalyptic turn. A Cleveland Museum of Art film series in February examines five movies made at the end of Jarman's 23-year film career, and includes his last literary adaptation, Edward II, and Wittgenstein, his last portrait film. But the centerpiece of the series are three spellbinding, personal, and formally adventurous works that comprise a sort of “death and dying" trilogy: The Last of England (1987), The Garden (1990), and Blue (1993).
The progression of these three films is from doom, gloom, anger, and despair to contemplation, serenity, and acceptance. Visually, there is also a “letting go.” The dark, spectral images of The Last of England, shot in Super8 mm and videotape, give way to the ethereal tableaux and pastoral landscapes of The Garden. In Blue, a "visual silent" with an empty blue screen for 76 minutes, imagery evaporates altogether, taking up permanent residence in the mind of the viewer.
Jarman had one of the surest eyes in contemporary cinema. His films tend to be stylized and exquisitely beautiful, with lighting, layers, textures, and colors that evince his training as a painter. Topping off many of them is a rich, eclectic soundtrack of songs, poems, music, sound effects, dialogue, or narration; Simon Fisher Turner was his regular composer.
Films will screen at 7:30 pm on Wednesday nights in February at the Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Boulevard in University Circle. Admission to each program is $4, $3 for museum members. For further information, call 216-421-7340.
February 1: The Last of England, with Tilda Swinton. Kaleidoscopic post-mortem on Thatcher England and British imperialism consisting of sinister images of death and decay. "Visionary cinema at its best... A powerful
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February 8: The Garden, with Tilda Swinton. Persecuted gay lovers take the place of Jesus in this dreamy, angry Passion play about modern intolerance. Adults only! "(Jarman's) greatest film."-Harlan Kennedy, Film Comment
February 15: Edward II, with Steven Waddington and Tilda Swinton. Modern dress version of Christopher Marlowe's classic tragedy, about a monarch who rejects his queen in favor of a male lover.
February 22: Wittgenstein, with Karl Johnson, Michael Gough, and Tilda Swinton. Playful, theatrical investigation of the life and work of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Blue, with the voices of Jarman, John Quentin, Nigel Terry, and Tilda Swinton. Against an empty and unchanging blue screen, AIDS victim Derek Jarman reflects on life and mortality this unique, haunting film-a missive from beyond the grave. "Blue functions as a non-sectarian mass, as heartbreak, and as a benediction. Like a great requiem, it forces you deep into yourself and back up towards the light." 1993 New York Film Festival catalogue.
John Ewing is coordinator of film programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and director of the Cleveland Cinematheque.
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