A queer history classic
"I’ve been staring at a blank screen and blinking cursor for a few minutes, trying to come up with the best two word description of Derek Jarman. For now, “defiantly idiosyncratic” is the best I can do. Jarman’s output as a queer filmmaker was very representative of UK during the AIDS crisis: angry, visceral, punk as fuck, and still able to find beauty in all of it. It was less interested in telling a story than articulating a feeling or raw emotion. Edward II is his most linear narrative since Jubilee and probably his most accessible film. It’s still quite a wild ride: An elderly Bishop is brutalized by a gang of punks in fetish leather; Our two forbidden lovers slow dance kiss while Annie Lennox croons Everytime We Say Goodbye; A red hot poker is put to punishing, butt-clenching use; Tilda Swinton! Leave it to Film Movement to bless us with a definitive copy. The slipcover is a pleasingly austere red and white design evoking the Elizabethan era and there’s a lavishly illustrated booklet with essays by Bruce LaBruce, Kyle Turner and a prologue by the Gay Pope of Fashion, Tilda herself. Sadly, Jarman was one of the many great talents of his generation to be taken from us too soon, making the lack of a commentary understandable and the featurette provides further insight. Edward II may have come at the tail end of his journey but it was another step to cementing his legacy."