Review of Derek (2008) by Daryl C — 12 May 2008

Intriguing portrait of Derek Jarman, centered on interviews that Jarman gave over the years (he was a very articulate as well as a conscientiously visible spokesman for gay filmmaking in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s), combined with comments (in the form of a letter) by his friend/colleague/muse Tilda Swinton.

The movie is incredibly smooth, almost hypnotically so, but it's a little removed, there's not quite the pulse of great passion which was always present in Jarman's own work. That one caveat aside, this was an excepional "portrait of the artist" and an excellent new film by Isaac Julien.