Derek Jarman: Life as Art (2004)

Portrait of the artist/film maker Derek Jarman as told by those who knew him best.

Director:

Andy Kimpton-Nye

Writer:

Andy Kimpton-Nye

Stars:

Tariq Ali, Jill Balcon, Simon Fisher-Turner

Cast

Credited cast:
Tariq Ali	...	Himself
Jill Balcon	...	Herself
Simon Fisher-Turner	...	Himself
Christopher Hobbs	...	Himself
Gaye Jarman	...	Herself
James McKay	...	Himself
Tilda Swinton	...	Herself
Peter Tatchell	...	Himself
Nigel Terry	...	Himself

Storyline

Portrait of the artist/film maker Derek Jarman as told by those who knew him best.

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Plot Keywords:

interview | gay interest | filmmaking | filmmaker

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 June 2005 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Interesting and Insightful biographic portrait

Derek Jarman has always been a bit of a problematic film maker for me. His films are chock full of interesting and homo-erotic images that I find appealing but there are also disturbing images and an almost complete lack of plot line in many of his films.

This was explained a bit in this short biography. Jarman was trained as a painter and considered the camera just a new and exciting type of brush. As a result his films often had a great look with image after striking image but without any real cohesive narrative line.

He also said that for him the finished film wasn't as important as that those making it had fun. While this does not generally make for good film making Jarman had such interesting ideas and visions that oftentimes this was enough. Yes, I think his films could have been more mainstream acceptable if he's tried a little harder to make them so, but I don't think that this was what he was about.

As it is they are interesting for what they are, even if at times that's not much more than a catalog of his playtime.