Derek Jarman is a brilliant filmmaker, and along with Peter Greenaway, probably the most important British filmmaker of the Post WW2 era.The Angelic Conversation, while a quality work of extraordinary textural richness, isn't Jarman's best.
Ten minutes' worth of voyeuristic amateur video stretched out (playback set to frame-by-frame) into an hour of pretentious gay artsiness. Shakespeare recited to give 'depth' to the platitude - (in a woman's voice - oh, creativity!
This is possibly the most visually beautiful film I've ever seen.Like many of Jarman's works, it has no conventional narrative, but a montage of images, music and voice.
This film is the archtypal Jarman movie. Jarman considered himself a painter more than a film maker and thought of the camera as just an improvement on the brushes of the past.
