Daily Movie Rec 7/7/2023 (Double Feature)
Caravaggio (1986)
"I float on the glassy surface of the still dark lake, lamp black in the night, silent as an echo, a moat in your eyes. You blink and send me spinning."
Directed by: Derek Jarman
Cinematography by: Gabriel Beristain
Country: United Kingdom
Plot:
A fictionalized biopic of the 16th-century Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who led a chaotic and violent life while becoming one of Italy's most renowned artists, using his tenebristic lighting techniques to revolutionize the form.
Reasons to watch:
Through their stylized compositions, Jarman and cinematographer Gabriel Beristain beautifully reflect Caravaggio's innovative techniques on-screen in what's easily Jarman's most refined and grounded work at this point in his career - though still unconventional with its non-linear narrative and cheeky anachronisms (everything from trucks to typewriters to lightbulbs to pocket calculators appears in the film). It's also noteworthy for casting a young Sean Bean and slightly younger Tilda Swinton in featured supporting roles as a pair of lovers, as it was only Bean's second film and Swinton's screen debut. Swinton would go on to act in six more of Jarman's films before his untimely death in 1994, becoming something of a muse for him, and the director can largely be credited for breaking the career of the Oscar-winning actress who developed into one of this century's most talented and chameleonic character actors. Also, shout-out appearances from Michael Gough, who would go on to play Alfred in the Batman films between 1989 and 1997, as well as Robbie Coltrane, who would play Hagrid in the Harry Potter franchise.
The Criterion Channel/Mubi/Kanopy
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