Losing his eyesight, Derek Jarman made this remarkable short
feature in which his diaristic reminiscences, and commentary on
his current degeneration from AIDS symptoms, are set against a
placid musical score and a cool, empty blue background.
An obviously simple idea, but what an amazingly rich one: Jarman
has created the closest movie experience to a director talking to
the inside of your head. The concomitant feelings of control-losing
peace and terrifying hallucination (one obviously starts to project
images into the blue blankness) are...well, so obviously apt, aren't
they? For a film about spirit, and about the interiorness of
everyone's reactions, BLUE is remarkably controlled in its effects.
It provides an experience adult viewers haven't had much since
childhood--of letting go and getting lost.
feature in which his diaristic reminiscences, and commentary on
his current degeneration from AIDS symptoms, are set against a
placid musical score and a cool, empty blue background.
An obviously simple idea, but what an amazingly rich one: Jarman
has created the closest movie experience to a director talking to
the inside of your head. The concomitant feelings of control-losing
peace and terrifying hallucination (one obviously starts to project
images into the blue blankness) are...well, so obviously apt, aren't
they? For a film about spirit, and about the interiorness of
everyone's reactions, BLUE is remarkably controlled in its effects.
It provides an experience adult viewers haven't had much since
childhood--of letting go and getting lost.