One of Derek Jarman's most personal and innovative films The Last of England is a devastating vision of 80's Britain. Images of war and urban decay are intercut with Jarman's own childhood home movies creating a shocking yet beautiful and poetic film with a much praised soundtrack featuring Diamanda Glass Mayo Thompson Andy Gill and Marianne Faithfull.
This experimental feature finds Derek Jarman at the peak of his powers, using expressionist imagery and a complex soundtrack to explore ideas of war, modern urbanity, lost love, and political oppression. There's a loose story here -- about a woman lamenting the politically motivated murder of her lover -- but the focus is more on pure imagery. Shot in super-8 and then blown up to a larger format, the imagery all has a grainy, over-saturated quality that lends the film as a whole a dreamlike ambience. Jarman rarely crafts traditional narratives, and this film suggests a gorgeous dream, a flow of thoughts crashing through the filmmaker's head and being projected directly onto a screen. Shadowy riot footage is spliced in with images of masked terrorist figures, ruined urban landscapes, sexual escapades, and lovely country vistas at sunset. Jarman often coats these scenes with a blue or orange hue, or lets the blown-out colors bleed into each other in a visual orgy. The film has a kaleidoscopic, reeling feel that's greatly enhanced by the soundtrack. Jarman's poetic voiceovers are offset there by gunshots, classical music and industrial techno, radio broadcasts, and snippets of dialogue. The total effect is a stunning portrait of urban malaise, one of the best films of the 90s.
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Derek Jarman presents a mixture of six films and home movies, chronicling the decline of modern-day Britain. References to the Royal Wedding and the Falklands War mingle with images of desolate streets in an abstract and personal reaction to the disintegration of our society.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play. The Last of England's creative elements still manage to shock. References to the Falklands War, drugs, bombs and the Royal Wedding all indicate the state of Britain today. The images od sesolate beauty are poetical and mesmerising. Shot in both film and videl the film tracks a nation destroyed by its imperial heritage, mititaristic bureaucracy locking with the urban dispossessed in a desperate battle for survival. The sound design has been praised by the music press as the best of the decade. The soundtrack includes the music of Elgar, Diamanda Glass, Mayo Thompson, Andy Gill and Marianne Faithfull. Actors: Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, Jonathan Phillips, Spencer Leigh, 'Spring' Mark AdleyDirectors: Derek JarmanFormat: PALRegion: All RegionsNumber of discs: 1
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