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Runacre, Little Nell, Toyah Willcox, Jordan, Adam Ant,
Richard O'Brien, Ian Charleson |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Angel (Ian Charleson): I was fifteen before I realized
I was dead.
Queen Elizabeth I time-travels to
an apocalyptic punk future to witness the end of British society.
 More
a cultural artifact than a narrative film in the classical sense,
Derek Jarman's Jubilee immerses itself in the punk culture
that cast an apocalyptic light on Britain in the late 1970s. Rather
than the crass exploitation of this counterculture-movement's fashion
statements and more accessible rock bands, this extremely avant-garde
endeavor embraces the spirit, politics and aesthetics of the punk
movement to the hilt, making the 25-year-old film something of
a time warp experience.
Unfortunately, it doesn't translate very well into a feature-length
cinematic production. Structured loosely around the intriguing
premise of Elizabeth I time-travelling to a post-apocalyptic age
to see what the future will bring for Great Britain, the film quickly
abandons any sense of narrative continuity in favor of an increasingly
random succession of episodes that communicate the punk ethos in
one way or another. Certainly worthwhile for those interested in
the period or viewers with fond memories of this bygone era, but
to the more casual viewer, it's an inaccessible, chaotic mess that's
more easily appreciated for its historical value than for its aesthetics. |
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Available from The Criterion
Collection in a special 25th-anniversary release with restored
widescreen video and several supplements on-board. There's
also a Region 2 release available in the UK with unrestored
fullscreen video and a 45-minute TV interview with Derek
Jarman its only extra. The Criterion release served as the
basis for this review.
The anamorphic widescreen
image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx. 1.66:1. The
film's 16mm source material is in plain evidence on this
grainy, undersaturated transfer. Considering the nature
of the film, this DVD easily offers the best possible presentation of
the film, with remarkably good sharpness but still a good
deal of print damage and debris.
The original mono sound mix is presented in Dolby Digital
1.0, and sounds better than expected, with very little hiss
and surprisingly decent fidelity in the musical tracks. Dialogues
sound clear if somewhat harsh and sometimes tinny, but there
is little distortion.
Fans of the movie certainly
get their money's worth with this special 25th-anniversary
edition of Jubilee. Among the many solid extras,
most impressive is the newly produced 40-minute documentary 'Jubilee:
A Time Less Golden', that offers an authoritative, highly
engrossing look back at the production's roots and its development.
Including rare on-set glimpses of Jarman at work with his
cast through faded home movies, the documentary is an excellent
hommage to Jarman's unique creative talent by the people
he worked with closely.
'Jordan's Dance' is an obscurely arty Super8-film by Jarman
that served as the first inspiration for Jubilee,
in which parts of it were included. This bizarre bit of silent
film is introduced by Jarman himself in a rare audio
interview. The film's shooting script has
also been included as a series of still page to browse through,
and offers its own unique look inside Jarman's creative process.
Not so much a script as a scrapbook full of ideas, themes,
images and bits of writing, this provides another excellent
addition to the film. Costume sketches, continuity
stills more scrapbook material and
an essay on the film from Jarman biographer
Tony Peake are also to be found in this section, as is the theatrical
trailer, that plays remarkably better than the film
itself. Finally, a web link is provided to an impressive letter by
actress Tilda Swinton on how the film influenced her life
and her career.Menu screens are designed in line
with the cover art, including some very subtle animation and navigation
up to The Criterion Collection's usual high standards.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
September 16, 2003
Click
here for IMDB info on Jubilee.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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