Jubilee

I’ve seen this before — but now it’s in 2K. I remember I bought that first copy of Jubilee as part of a DVD box set in London when I was visiting in, like, 1998, but it took me more than a decade to actually watch it (because I had basically stopped watching movies). I wanted to get back into watching movies again, and that coincided with my starting to blog, and Jubilee was the first movie I watched as part of that…

It’s the Eurovision, see?

This guy is the greatest actor ever. Ever!

Adam and the Ants.

See?

It’s a frustrating movie. There’s bits in here like a more deranged (but realistic) A Clockwork Orange — it’s wild and totally unhinged. But then there’s scenes like this where they drop in a lot of commentary about The State Of Britain Today that are so badly done…

I mean, it helps that Adam Ant is rolling his eyes to this monologue — is Jarman making fun of New York punks? That’s a Richard Hell quote…

Is that Jarman himself?

I love their uniforms with the pink rubber gloves stuck on the shoulders.

It’s kinda brilliant? But it also doesn’t quite work. But it’s mostly brilliant.

Right:

The film had many critics in British punk circles. Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood manufactured a T-shirt on which was printed an “open letter” to Jarman denouncing the film and his misrepresentations of punk. Jarman, according to biographer Tony Peake, was critical of punk’s fascination with fascism, while mocking its stupidity and petty violence.

Hippie!

Jubilee. Derek Jarman. 1978. ⚄