Word: jarman
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...Derek Jarman's ostensibly hip 1992 rendering of Christopher Marlowe's classic play is a fine example of how one can choke on one's own postmodernism. You won't be allowed to forget that the play was written centuries ago, but its timeliness (gay love, violently thwarted) will be thrust rudely at you like a piece of ACT-UP literature: fine if you're a piece of ACT-UP literature, but not necessarily if you're a Christopher Marlowe play. But first, the Cliff Notes. Edward II has a particular affection for a commoner named Gaveston, and makes...
directed by Derek Jarman...
There's plenty of interest here, but Derek Jarman's version does away with most of it almost from the first. The problem: the homoeroticism that is suggested by Marlowe's play is here sketched immediately in broad, unambiguous, 1990s strokes, upstaging the play's own subtleties of language. The filmmakers, clearly delighted with the possibilities of anachronistic dress, sets, and props, can't stop sprinkling them on, even when they're pointless and distracting. Like the abrupt cuts from scene to scene, these anachronisms are jarring and seem altogether a little too precious: a toy robot is set adrift...
...starkness that might be intended to impute Beckett-like solemnity to the proceedings, but the effect in this case was rather one of being stuck in a prolonged Calvin Klein perfume ad. This may have something to do with how good the actors look, and what they are wearing. Jarman's homosexual lovers have strong jaws and wellcut hair. I spent some futile time trying to remember whether I'd seen Gaveston (Andrew Tienan) in "St. Elmo's Fire...
directed by Derek Jarman...