DEREK

Directed By Isaac Julien

Review By Jody Newman

Sunday afternoon brought the first LAFF showing of Derek, a documentary on the late Derek Jarmon’s life and often controversial work. Director Isaac Julien structures his film around a previously unseen interview given by Jarmon in the few years before his death from AIDS complications. It is through this interview that Derek Jarmon, himself, guides the audience through his life as a young boy in England,  through his courageous career, contributions, and political impact in the worlds of Art, Film, Homosexuality, and in AIDS awareness. With a myriad of clips from Jarmon’s works and interviews, Isaac Julian’s film incorporates a letter from Jarmon’s friend, Tilda Swinton on the personal impact of his absence, while providing us with haunting images of his home and grave.

What works most for Derek is Julien’s approach to the movie. Often feeling like a piece of art itself, the documentary is most powerful in the audience’s digestion of it after the lights come up. One can really see the power and braveness of Jarmon’s pioneering work in a time when most people felt unsafe out of ‘the closet’. It is not surprising that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) partnered with The Trevor Project to sponsor this screening for LAFF, as Jarmon’s spirit was and is inspiring to many.

Early in the film, Jarmon, himself, alludes to the idea that he would prefer to take all his work and disappear on the date of his death. The thought makes him laugh. It is followed by a shot of his empty home and the hollow sound of wind blowing. Interpret what you will from Jarmon’s statements, his work, and Isaac Julien’s documentary, but remember that Art is meant to inspire, outrage, impact and live on. No matter what you feel about Derek Jarmon’s controversial approach to filmmaking, storytelling and art, his footprints will last in the world of independent film forever.