Kino will release Isaac Julien's documentary Derek, about the artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman, on 2 September. The film is narrated and written by one of his muses, Tilda Swinton.UPDATE: Kino will also release on the same day Jarman's War Requiem, which as far as I know has never been released anywhere on DVD. The film stars Swinton, Sean Bean, Nathaniel Parker, Nigel Terry and the final performance from Laurence Olivier. Now if we can just get someone to put out The Garden...
8 comments:
What are your favorite Derek Jarman films?
Probably Sebastiane and The Garden. Followed closely by Wittgenstein.
Ah, I have never seen The Garden. What did Derek Jarman come up with in 'The Garden'?
Sounds interesting. I'll have to give this Derek Jarman a check.
Wow, considering how much I love Angelic Conversation and Last of England, I've really been wanting to see War Requiem, which is supposedly in a similar vein. That's very exciting news. It would be more exciting if it wasn't Kino -- hello, ghosting -- but still, a flawed release is better than none at all.
The Garden was his re-envisioning of the passion of Jesus Christ with Jesus as two tormented male lovers and Tilda Swinton as The Virgin Mary.
I actually prefer his more enigmatic films, which is why Jubilee and Caravaggio don't rank as high in my book.
And, Ed, I'll take whatever I can when it comes to Jarman... even if it is a flawed release (especially considering War Requiem is strangely his most elusive title).
War Requiem is also being released on DVD in the UK (with some exciting extras including a documentary about the making of this masterpiece), by Second Sight - a very good 'arthouse' distributor of great movies like this. They are releasing it in November in a digitally remastered version (soundtrack and picture).
The digitally remastered High Definition version of the film is also being premiered in cinemas, (occasionally with a Q & A from its producer Don Boyd): Liverpool (June), Cambridge (September) and of course London (November)amongst others.
Far from being inaccessible or obscure, this is arguably Jarman's greatest and most durable film, and his extraordinarily poetic visualisation of the original soundtrack of Britten's oratorio makes its release now so relevant in the context of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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