Customer Reviews

Blue [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"I fall into a blue funk..." says the narrator about 10 minutes into this film. An understatement by far. Blue is a brooding spoken-word epic that traces the mind of a person (Jarman himself) who is in the advanced stages of AIDs. Jarman died from AIDs-related causes in 1994. The text, excerpted from Jarman's sublime book about color, CHROMA, riffs on the nature of the color blue--literally and metaphorically. These are melancholy, but not necessarily sad, meditations on the various "blues" the speaker has experienced throughout his life in general and his sickness in particular. True to the visionary nature of many of Jarman's films (The Last of England and Jubilee, for instance), Blue is a lush, experimental tour-de-force: there are no images accompanying the dialogue in this film, only an empty, glowing, aqua-marine blue screen that overwhelms the potential sadness of this film with a Tabula-Rasa like radiance. Aesthetically, this is a beautiful, but radical choice; viewers of this film will have to focus entirely on the fragmentary dialogue, without the help of images to keep distractions at bay. Politically, this choice sums up Jarman's artistic modus operandi: he is interested in work that leaves plenty of space for the viewer's imagination to fill in the narrative blanks. Jarman's empty blue screen shows the director working to not pin-down the experience of sickness and death too firmly. My only criticism of this films is that sometimes the dialogue becomes too melodramatic, undermining the understated visual component, All in all, however, Blue is an intoxicatingly morose film that, in spite of the lack of images, manages to engage the viewer throughout its duration.

There's nothing else in the world of cinema like this beautiful brilliant movie, this Blue. From Jubilee to Blue is an amazing arc indeed, and this, Derek Jarman's last film, is a marvel of music and color and poetry. To be with Jarman's film from the opening "O Blue come forth" to the final "I place a delphineum, blue, upon your grave" is to be in the presence of genius. He is deeply missed.

As I complete watching all of Derek Jarman's films, I have to admit that "Blue" was , for me, the most undefinable of them all. You stare at an aquamarine-coloured screen for 70+ minutes and listen to the sights, sounds, feelings, experiences and memories of film director Derek Jarman who has lost his sight due to AIDS complications, and will soon die from the disease. It reminded me of the scene from Brainstorm when Louise Fletcher is suffering a fatal heart attack and records all of her brain activity to her dying body!

"Blue" was very thought provoking and very melancholic at the same time. Because I have been hypnotized before and am easily hypnotizable, I had to start this film several times, as I would nod off from staring at the blue screen. This is a very interesting choice for the late Jarman to have made. I cannot really say that I "enjoyed" it. I can say that I "experienced" it. I wondered about the movie Iris with Judi Dench, as she portrayed brilliant wordsmith-authoress Iris Murdoch as her brain slipped away from her due to Alzheimer's. Jarman's film is a meditation and observation on the "slipping-away" process. Interesting, but definitely not for everyone. I still recommend the at least one time experience of it to appease curiosity.

For all intended purposes, this was Derek Jarman's final film, one of his best and one of the most unique films in the history of cinema. It is simply a blue screen for its entire running time (except for opening and closing credits). It has one of the most moving, meticulous soundtracks that I've ever heard. Jarman was blind from AIDS complications at the time he made this film, so all he really could do was hear, but he was such an amazing artist (and a wonderful man by all those who knew him) that he managed to create something poetic, beautiful, and incredibly unique through one image and a complex soundtrack. The film is rather sad as well, it being Jarman's last and not as visually kinetic as his other films are. Nevertheless, this is essential viewing for everyone.

Much has been written about this fine work, the last by innovative British filmmaker Derek Jarman. A rumination on AIDS, produced when he was rendered blind by the disease, the film consists of a soundtrack of Jarman's narration surrounded by a collage of music and sound effects; the screen itself is just the color blue, never changing during the running time of the film. Seen in a darkened theater, the blue screen almost staring at you, "Blue" is a very moving experience - you're really put in Jarman's shoes as he takes a journey through a terminal illness that has robbed the filmmaker of his sight. On home video, the impact of what some have criticised as a "gimmick" might be minimized, but "Blue" is a remarkable achievement worthy of checking out. Turn out the lights, screen it on a big tv to fill the room with the solid color and give it a try. It might surprise you.