Review of Jubilee (2000) by Al M — 05 Aug 2010
A truly anarchic deconstruction of bourgeois values and society--a punk/new wave battle cry against the establishment. Jarman artfully combines musical performances with an almost post-apocalyptic narrative to explore the underside of British society.
To enact his critique, the film has Ariel (the spirit from Shakespeare's The Tempest) transport the original Queen Elizabeth from her own 16th Century time into a bombed out/punked out British wasteland, a civilization that has been taken apart at the seams by anarchist punks like the main characters of the film.
LIke a Burroughs or Ballard novel, Jubilee functions most cohesively as a series of tableaux, and like those authors its power can be drained at times because it gets a bit repetitive in its anarchic mise-en-scene, yet it is still a powerful piece of cinematic expression that shouts in the face of all those who consider themselves to be "decent people.
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This review of Jubilee (2000) was written by Al M on 05 Aug 2010.
Jubilee has generally received mixed reviews.
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