Jubilee (1979)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent but underrated film

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

OK, so it's not polished Hollywood, but nor was late 1970's Britain for the youth of the time. It will help viewers hugely if they are old enough to appreciate this film in context. This was never intended to be light family viewing, and it makes not even the slightest effort to follow standard movie rules. Instead, this represents the disconnection youth felt from authority, be it the power holding class or big business which just seeks to exploit (ooh, nothing changed there). In this movie, the Punks have taken over the streets and the corporations still pull the strings from their protected mansions. Religious groups are not going to like the raw attention to sex and violence which society does its best to bottle-up and deny exists (funnily enough we have retrograded these days into political correctness).Media and institutions are more sophisticated at managing us these these days, and the youth of today has different issues - but the message of the film is a relevant today (maybe even more so) at it was in 1978.Watch with an open mind !

This movie is very much of its time, and very British, so some subtleties might be lost on foreigners (as me). A few things may seem dated or naive now, but in 1977 they must have been quite relevant. Just take a newspaper from that time and it looked as if punk might bring down the establishment single-handedly. The amateurish aspects of the movie go well with the punk aesthetic, and the performances of the more trained actors make up for the others. Jordan was quite a revelation if you think she was in charge of a clothes shop and had no acting experience apart from being on stage with the Sex Pistols. The character of Borgia Ginz is quite amusing. Jenny Runacre is in my opinion excellent all along (she plays two roles). The acting and dialog in the final scene, when she talks with Dee as Queen Elizabeth I and set to Brian Eno's music, is really nice. What I find puzzling about this is, why would a punk movie portray royalty in such a likable way ? Maybe the message is, "we're not against royalty per se, we're against the way royalty is and behaves today". But this is just my guess.

This movie had a shoestring budget, the acting wasn't very good, and the plot didn't make much sense; nevertheless, I liked it.The plot: At the request of Queen Elizabeth I, John Dee, her magician, summons an angel to show the Queen what life if like in the future. Flash-forward to a punk-rock future version of England. The world economy has completely collapsed, roving street gangs (and the police) randomly kill or terrorize people, and Top of the Pops is played constantly on Television.The story centers around a gang of female punks (an Historian, a Pyromaniac, a Nymphomaniac, their leader, and their au pair), who more or less aimlessly travel through London killing people.Like I've said, the plot is not very substantial, but the characters are very vivid and seem very real. Likewise, the writing is well done, and does a good job of highlighting the frustration and alienation of the era.There are some funny bits, there are some scary bits, and there are some boring bits. I thought I was going to be completely bored with the movie, but I wound up finding it very interesting.

I have seen all of Derek Jarman's movies and this one is by far his best.This is the first British punk film and probably the best one that has ever been done.It was very difficult to describe this movie as it has many strange images from beginning to end.It is one of the most amazing movies.If you know Derek Jarman's style of directing then you will know he doesn't follow other director's ways of directing.This movie has a fantastic score from Adam and the Ants and many others.If you don't like nudity,sex,drugs and violence then do not watch this movie.This movie is very underrated.Watching this movie is a very rare experience that will come very few times in your life.I would recommend this movie to all punk fans rating: 10/10