Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

The BFI will release Jarman Volume Two: 1987-1994, its second Limited Edition collection of the iconoclastic filmmaker’s works, in a Deluxe 6-Disc Blu-ray Box Set on 25 February 2019.

Marking the 25th anniversary of Derek Jarman’s untimely passing, the box set brings together Jarman’s final six features – all now presented in High Definition for the very first time in the UK – made in the prolonged burst of creativity and political activism that followed his HIV diagnosis in 1987.

The collection also includes Jarman’s posthumously-released elegy to Super 8, Glitterbug (1994), along with an incredible 66 special features – both new and archival, plus trailers, image galleries of rare stills and promotional materials and a 100-page perfect bound book of essays, film credits and more.

The films included are:
· The Last of England (1987) with Tilda Swinton
· War Requiem (1989) with Nathaniel Parker, Tilda Swinton, Laurence Olivier
· The Garden (1990) with Tilda Swinton
· Edward II (1991) with Steven Waddington, Andrew Tierman, Tilda Swinton
· Wittgenstein (1993) with Karl Johnson, Michael Gough, Tilda Swinton
· Blue (1993): contributing musicians include Simon Fisher Turner, Coil, Scanner and Brian Eno
· Glitterbug (1994) with Adam Ant, Andrew Logan, Toyah Willcox, Marianne Faithfull, William S Burroughs, Genesis P-Orridge and Tilda Swinton

The box set includes a huge selection of Special Features.

• Continue reading at The Arts Shelf.

It’s hard to believe that Punk is well over 40 years old, largely heralded by the release of the Sex Pistols ‘Anarchy in the UK’, in the Britain at any rate. Punk meant different thing to different people: to the Sex Pistols and The Clash it was a working-class reaction or counter-reaction, to Malcolm McLaren it was a marketing ploy and to the likes of Vivienne Westwood it was a fashion statement. For art film director Derek Jarman it became an anarchic artistic statement.

Of course Jarman himself was not a punk, but he certainly tapped into the spirit of the age and was even able to insert his own brand of camp into the punk scene with his film Jubilee (1978). The BFI release of Jubilee is released in addition to the BFI’s recent 6 film box-set release, ‘Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972 – 1986’ to observe the films 40 year anniversary.

The narrative of the film is sometimes hard to follow, but makes more statements than having any narrative or even making much in the way of sense. It opens with Queen Elizabeth I (Jenny Runacre) being transported to 1970s London by her occultish aide, Dr. John Dee (Richard O’Brien) and find a place riven with political and social unrest. We are then introduced to some of the key figures in the film: punk girls Mad (Toyah Willcox) and Amyl-Nitrate (Jordan), along with Kid (Adam Ant, real name Stuart Goddard), Crabs (Nell Campbell), Chaos (Hermine Demoriane) and Bod (Runacre again in a dual role). They get up to all sorts in the flat and include killing a one-night stand in a asphyxiation game. All sorts of adventures take place including starting a punk band called Scum while revolt and social unrest, including police brutality increases.

• Continue reading at Filmwerk.

BFI to release Derek Jarman’s ‘Jubilee’ in a 40th Anniversary Dual Format Edition on 18 June 2018

Following its inclusion in the BFI box set, Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986, BFI is set to release Derek Jarman‘s shocking cult classic, Jubilee, in a standalone 40th Anniversary Dual Format Edition release on 18 June 2018.

The film stars Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, Jordan, Nell Campbell, and Linda Spurrier, alongside a host of punk rockers including Toyah Willcox and Adam Ant.

The  40th Anniversary Blu-ray presentation is a 2K remaster taken from the original camera negatives.

In Jubilee Queen Elizabeth I (Jenny Runacre) and her occult aide Dr John Dee (Richard O’Brien) travel into the future, encountering the megalomania of big business as well as gangs of violent, marauding killers.

The mythological past and bleak future converge on the sparse grey streets of London in Jarman’s cult classic of the punk era, accompanied by electrifying punk rock numbers delivered by Jayne County and Adam Ant.

• Continue reading at The Arts Shelf. See further info and details on the Special Features. Pre-order the Jubilee: 40th Anniversary Dual Edition for a reduced price at Amazon.

Following its limited cinema release you can soon watch Lies We Tell, in which Toyah has a small role, from the comfort of your own home. The film is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as on Digital HD from 2nd April.

Here’s where:

iTunes
Amazon
Google Play
Microsoft
Sky Store
TalkTalk TV
BT
Vubiquity (EirCom)
Rakuten TV
Sony

• Browse all of Dreamscape’s previous Lies We Tell news here.

Blu-ray: Derek Jarman Collection, Vol One 1972-1986

Voyage through an alchemical universe: the magical realm of a flawed English genius

This BFI boxset of Derek Jarman films from the first phase of his career, brilliantly curated by William Fowler, is an exemplary package: a treasure trove of extras accompanies his first six features, here presented in re-mastered form, and a thorough, well-illustrated and thought-provoking 80-page booklet with extensive material about the films and a wealth of essays.

The collection makes it possible to follow the evolution of Jarman as a film-maker, always riding the wave of creative and mould-breaking adventure, from the mysteries of In the Shadow of the Sun (1981), a film that built on much of Jarman’s super-8mm footage from the 1970s, the controversial Sebastiane (1976), through to the explosive punk-inspired politics of Jubilee (1978), followed by The Tempest (1979), surely one of the best adaptations of Shakespeare on film, the avant-garde rigour and homo-erotic delirium of The Angelic Conversation (1985), and the assured and more straightforward account of the rebellious life of the painter Caravaggio.

• Continue reading at The Arts Desk. Read further info on this release here.

Jubilee celebrates its 40th with a DVD & Blu-ray Anniversary Edition of Derek Jarman’s cult classic. The 2-disc set will be released on 18th June 2018.

The mythological past and bleak future converge on the sparse, grey streets of London in this cult classic of the punk era.

Queen Elizabeth 1 and her occult aide Dr John Dee (brilliantly played by Jenny Runacre and Richard O’Brien, respectively) travel into the future, encountering the megalomania of big business as well as gangs of violent, marauding killers.  Director Derek Jarman doesn’t spare the shocks while electrifying punk rock numbers are delivered by Jayne County and Adam Ant

Newly available as a Dual Format Edition for the very first time, the film is a 2K remaster from the original camera negatives, and comes bolstered by an extensive array of extras.

Special Features:
• Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
• A Message from the Temple (1981, 5 mins)
• Toyah Willcox: Being Mad (2014, 8 mins): The singer and actress looks back on her role in Jubilee
• Jordan remembers Jubilee (2018): Punk icon Jordan looks back on her friendship with Derek Jarman and the making of Jubilee
• Lee Drysdale remembers Jubilee (2018): Derek Jarman’s friend and, later collaborator Lee Drysdale recalls his unconventional involvement in the making of Jubilee
• Jubilee image gallery
• Fully illustrated booklet with writing on the film by Will Fowler, an original review and full film credits

1978 | colour | 106 minutes | 1 x BD50, Region B | 1 x DVD9, Region 2 | Cert 18

• Further info/Pre-order at Amazon.

The BFI have announced details of a long-awaited collection of the films of Derek Jarman, to be released on Blu-Ray this spring. Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986 will be a limited-edition, five disc box set, available from 26th March 2018 – more info/pre-order at Amazon.

Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986
5-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray box set

Jarman’s multi-faceted work is inspirational in its fearlessness, yet remains touchingly personal. The dynamism of these features evokes comparison with the bold romanticism of directors like Ken Russell (an early champion) and Michael Powell, as well as artists Paul Nash and John Piper. But Jarman was also a subversive force in film. Beginning with his psychedelic debut feature, In the Shadow of the Sun (1972-1974), then came the provocative Jubilee (1978), the evocative Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest (1979) and The Angelic Conversation (1985), in which he invoked Elizabethan occultist Dr John Dee and explored alchemical imagery, a subject in which he was well versed. In Sebastiane (1976) and Caravaggio (1986) he revived key gay and homo-erotic figures from the past with edgy and unmistakable style.

Derek Jarman’s first six feature films have all been newly scanned at 2K from original film elements and are presented in this lavish box set alongside an exciting array of new and archival extras drawn from Jarman’s archive of workbooks and papers held in BFI Special Collections. Newly interviewed exclusively for this box set are some of the people who worked on these films; punk legend Jordan, producer and filmmaker Don Boyd, production designer Christopher Hobbs and artist filmmaker John Scarlett-Davis.

Special Features

• All films presented in High Definition for the first time in the UK
• Sebastiane: A Work in Progress (c.1975): newly remastered from 16mm film elements held by the BFI National Archive, this sadly incomplete early black and white work-print of Sebastiane differs significantly from the finished film. This previously unseen alternate edit assembled in a different order, featuring a different soundtrack was never subtitled or released
• The Making of Sebastiane (Derek Jarman & Hugh Smith, 1975): previously unseen Super 8 footage shot on location in Sardiniai
• Jazz Calendar (1968): a rarely screened documentary record of the 1968 ballet by Frederick Ashton, performed by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, for which Jarman designed sets and costumes
• Message from the Temple (1981)
• TG: Psychic Rally in Heaven (1981)
• Pirate Tape (WS Burroughs Film) (1982)
• Toyah Willcox: Being Mad (2014); the singer and actress looks back on her role in Jubilee
• Jordan remembers Jubilee (2018): punk icon Jordan looks back on her friendship with Derek Jarman and the making of Jubilee
• Stormy Weather: The Magic Behind The Tempest (2016): Toyah Willcox and Stuart Hopps share their memories of working on Derek Jarman’s 1979 production of The Tempest
• Don Boyd remembers The Tempest (2018): Producer and filmmaker Don Boyd remembers the production, release and critical reception of The Tempest
• A Meeting of Minds: Christopher Hobbs on collaborating with Derek Jarman (2018): production designer Christopher Hobbs looks back on his long and fruitfully creative friendship with Derek Jarman
• Fully illustrated 80-page book with new writing on the film, contemporary reviews and full film credits
• …plus lots more

• Aaaaaaaah!: Is released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 18th January…

• Front Row Reviews: Steve Oram chats Aaaaaaaah!

You’ve said the film is based on nature documentaries but there are a lot of filmic references in there as well, like the opening scene of 2001 in there, and the close ups of the eyes was like something from Sergio Leone’s film
Steve Oram: 2001 wasn’t consciously aped – excuse my pun – nor was Sergio Leone – it was all about the intensity of feeling. It mainly came from the idea of observing and being a voyeur – that was my main vibe with it and we worked really hard on that.

Toyah Willcox’s performance is amazing – did you write her part specially?
I didn’t write it for her, and in the casting process it was ‘can we find a 55 yr old woman who’s up for doing these ridiculous things…?’ and she came to mind – Continue reading at Front Row Reviews.

• Win Aaaaaaaah! on DVD: at Entertainment Focus…

• Aaaaaaaah! News: Browse Dreamscape’s Aaaaaaaah! news posts…

“…one of the most unusual, blackly comic and ultimately disturbing British films in years.” Den of Geek

On DVD & Blu-ray from Monday 11th Jan, 2016.

Fast Sell:
Steve Oram, known for hit Brit thrillers SIGHTSEERS and KILL LIST stars in his long-awaited directorial debut feature with a host of famous names. Get ready for the most unusual celluloid primal scream – an anarchic, hilarious, disturbing and touching look at the human condition. Recently nominated for the Discovery Award at the British Independent Film Awards, Aaaaaaah! is a film that needs to be seen and heard.

Key Talent:
Toyah Willcox – Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Noel Fielding – The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley
Julian Rhind Tutt – The Hour, Green Wing, Lucy, Notting Hill
Tom Meeten – Paddington, Sightseers
Julian Barratt – The Mighty Boosh, Being Human, Nathan Barley

• Continue reading at Fetch. Click below to see the Aaaaaaaah! DVD cover.

British distributors Icon Home Entertainment have announced that they will release on Blu-ray Steve Oram’s thriller Aaaaaaaah! (2015), starring Julian Barratt, Holli Dempsey, Noel Fielding, and Lucy Honigman. The release will be available for purchase on January 11.

Steve Oram, known for hit Brit thrillers Sightseers and Kill List, stars in his long-awaited directorial debut feature with a host of famous names. Get ready for the most unusual celluloid primal scream – an anarchic, hilarious, disturbing and touching look at the human condition. The film was recently nominated for the Discovery Award at the British Independent Film Awards.

Special Features:
– Carolla Cooks – Carolla Cooks is a 10 min version of the cooking show you see at the beginning of the film with Shelley Longworth
– PUB! – Pub is the full 5 min version of the sitcom that the characters are watching at the end of the film. Stars Tony Way and Alice Lowe
– The Cast Speaks
– Audio commentary with Steve Oram

• Continue reading at Blu-ray.com.

The earnest 1979 TV series where Nigel Kneale’s Professor Bernard Quatermass bowed out

Urban streets are littered with bodies. Barricades constructed from cars are ablaze. The national broadcaster works behind security suitable for a prison camp, Fearful old people live communally in underground warrens. Gangs roam cities while in the countryside, the hippy like Planet People chant and wander, looking for sites from where they can ascend to salvation on another, mythical planet.

Professor Bernard Quatermass arrives in this chaos from his Scottish retirement retreat to take part in a TV show marking the moment when Russian and American space projects become one, linking with each other in orbit above the Earth. He sees the programme as a platform to help in the quest for his missing granddaughter, who he thinks has had her head turned by the Planet People. Over its four episodes, the 1979 TV series Quatermass portrayed a world gone to pot.

This important release, a two-disc set out on Blu-ray and DVD, collects the 1979 TV series and its spin-off film. Quatermass is played by a magnificently sideburned, yet often wooden, John Mills. As Quatermass‘s foil Kapp, Simon MacCorkindale overeggs the theatricals but is nonetheless robust. Watch out for Toyah Willcox amongst the Planet People.

• Continue reading at The Arts Desk. View further info on the recent Quatermass DVD/Blu-ray Box Set here.

Following the recent news that the 1979 series of Quatermass is to be reissued on DVD… It will also be available, for the first time, on Blu-ray too – With a Limited Edition first run to be available in four different coloured sleeves, based on the title colour scheme of each episode.

• Visit the Blu-ray info/product page at the Network DVD website. The Blu-ray is also available to pre-order at Amazon. (Thanks to Stephen Bennett Troake for the update, and thanks again to Giddy Gavin for the original info)

Toyah’s new Artist Central page at Amazon UK…

A new edition of Quadrophenia is released on DVD and Blu-ray next month.

Universal Pictures have commissioned new cover art for a selection of their classic and iconic titles on Blu-ray & DVD in the form of two series: Reel Heroes: superhero films reminagined in a comic-book artwork style and Screen Outlaws: which pays homage to street art and hip hop graffiti from the UK and the USA.

Release Date: 08 April 2013
Special Features: Exclusive Artwork and Artcards

Jimmy is a teenager growing up in the first half of the 1960’s; he rides through London on his scooter, pops pills, is mad about rock and roll and wears a Parka and Levis, nothing to extraordinary about that. But Jimmy’s life comes to an aggressive climax during a violent Holiday weekend controntation between Mods and Rockers on Brighton beach.

Starring: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Michael Elphick, Toyah Willcox. Director: Franc Roddam.

More articles and reviews for the Blu-ray (Region A/1) release of Quadrophenia, including a feature at ‘GQ’ magazine and a comprehensive article by ‘Movie Metropolis’.

• GQ: God Save The Mods: Director Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia, newly out on Blu-ray from Criterion, is set in roughly the same era—now half a century ago—as George Lucas’s American Graffiti.

• Movie Metropolis: Quadrophenia – Blu-ray Review: One scene in “Quadrophenia” (1979) captures the absurdity and sincerity of youthful rebellion in all its sure-to-embarrass-you-in-the-future glory. Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels) says to his friend Kevin (an incredibly young Ray Winstone), “I don’t wanna be the same as everybody else. That’s why I’m a Mod, see?”

• Gibson.com: Refurbished ‘Quadrophenia’ Out This Week: Looking for a gift for the eternal Who fan” Then you may be in luck, as the restored version of Quadrophenia — the 1979 film based on the Who’s classic 1973 rock opera — is out on DVD and Blu-ray this week.

• The Portland Press Herald: New To Blu-ray: “Quadrophenia”, starring Phil Daniels and Sting. When discussing coming-of-age movies, this 1979 cult classic rarely gets tossed around with widely appreciated youth angst films such as “The Graduate” or “Dazed and Confused.” But the fact that filmmaker Cameron Crowe counts “Quadrophenia” among his favorite films of all time should tell you something.

• Jeffrey M Anderson: Blu-ray Review: Quadrophenia succeeds through its devil-may-care attitude and energy. It feels like a low-budget homemade movie from the period.

Quadrophenia in released on special edition Region A/1 Blu-ray this week by The Criterion Collection. Here are some new reviews and articles focusing on the new Blu-ray.

• Blu-ray.com: Review: (Very comprehensive look at the film, Blu-ray release and extras) As far as I am concerned, Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia is one of the all-time best British coming-of-age films. It is painfully honest, gritty yet beautiful, superbly acted film.

• The Hollywood Reporter: Quadrophenia: A restored Blu-ray/DVD of The Who’s landmark film recaptures the 1960s.

• Blu-ray Definition: Quadrophenia [Criterion Collection] Blu-ray Review: Going back nearly 50 years in time, Quadrophenia does a creditable job in conveying the fashions and fads of the era.

• The Boston Globe: The Who, why, and how of ‘Quadrophenia’: Flash back to “Love Reign O’er Me” as the soundtrack of a life, as “Quadrophenia” (1979), the immersively scruffy feature riff on the Who’s classic rock opera, arrives this week in a terrific-sounding, meticulously remastered Blu-ray.

• The Globe & Mail: The Mods are back, but who were they? They wore their jackets cut slim and checked, maybe a touch of seersucker and an open neck. They rode Vespa GS scooters with their hair cut neat. They were British Mods. But what does that all mean?

• Criterion Corner: Under The Covers: Criterion sure loves their rock odyssees (there’s this, Head, Spinal Tap, that one where Takashi Miike tortures David Bowie for 2 hours…), and they have done some serious justice to Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia.

• SLT Today: ‘Quadrophenia’ rocks on Blu-ray: On my ever-expanding list of favorite movies, two titles have shared the top spot since 1979: “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Quadrophenia.”

• DVD File: Review: What sets Quadrophenia apart from the pack isn’t as much its achievement as a ‘rock opera’ but its willingness to play among the fringes of the sub-genre.

Those are our three reasons. What are yours? (Erm… 1. Monkey, 2. Brighton & 3. Jimmy!!!)

Three more new reviews of The Tempest on Blu-ray.

• Ioncinema: The Tempest | Blu-ray Review: Difficult as ever, Jarman’s take on Shakespeare’s final lone play is definitely a product of his own imagining. Laced with homoeroticisms, cabaret iconography, extravagant but dirty set design, and overall unsettling imagery… Like the original story, the film centers around the magician and ex-Duke of Milan, Prospero (Heathecote Williams), along with his beautiful daughter Miranda (Toyah Willcox) and their downright scary servant, Caliban (Jack Birkett), all of which now live alone in a decrepit mansion on an island.

• Blu-ray.com: The Tempest Blu-ray Review: Stormy weather ends in sunshine: Where Jarman’s The Tempest really differentiates itself is in its unsettling oddities, its ghostly atmosphere and decayed visual style… Karl Johnson makes for a hypnotic Ariel—weird and effete, dressed all in white—and Toyah Willcox is far from the usual, virginal Miranda. Here she’s sensual and erratic, a life-sized wind-up toy doll.

• Cultural Mente Incorrecto: “The Tempest” by Derek Jarman: A different and almost subversive Shakespeare classic: “The Tempest” by Derek Jarman is a different and almost subversive Shakespeare classic. Visually stunning, with that touch of indie with hints of neorealism but a literary question fabulesca, this is a historically important film in the film, required viewing for film fans Jarman, protesters and intellectuals.

• View links to numerous other reviews of The Tempest on Blu-ray here.

A few more reviews of The Tempest, released for the first time on Blu-ray (Region A/1) earlier this week.

• TCM: Movie News: The Tempest – Derek Jarman’s Acclaimed 1979 Adaptation of the William Shakespeare Play: The jump to Blu-Ray for The Tempest is a substantial improvement here, given that transfer technology has improved considerably in the several years since its last telecine pass and the obvious benefits of 1080p.

• DVD Direct: The Tempest: Like most of Derek Jarman’s work, The Tempest is strange and difficult to access, but remains one of my favorite Shakespeare adaptations in all of film.

• DVD Beaver: The Tempest (Blu-ray): Jarman’s The Tempest is certainly interesting as a unique take on The Bard’s work and still recognizable to the play on many fronts but there are notable omissions. I suspect that this Blu-ray can only find an audience for those who appreciate Jarman.

The Tempest was released on Region A/1 Blu-ray yesterday. View a comprehensive article on the film and Blu-ray remastered edition at DVD Talk.

How do you follow up an apocalyptic punk-rock satire that seemed to offend even more people than A Clockwork Orange, up to and including the purist punks whose energy it was inspired by and meant as a tribute to? If you were celebrated British underground auteur Derek Jarman in 1979, having just shocked and rocked the world with your prior year’s film, the scorched-earth, anti-royalist comic nightmare Jubilee, why, of course, your next step would (un)naturally be to take on Shakespeare!

…Prospero’s daughter, Miranda (Jubilee’s sinisterly lisping girl-woman Toyah Willcox, here sporting a no less punkish ‘do of straggly dreadlocks, along with a stripped skeleton of a period dress that looks like something out of vintage Vivienne Westwood).

• Continue reading at DVD Talk.

• The 1980 BBC version of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde has now been released on DVD in Sweden. This release has a slightly different cover to the UK version (released in 2007). The cast includes David Hemmings, Diana Dors and Toyah. View a larger version of the Swedish cover here.

• Derek Jarman’s 1979 version of The Tempest is just about to be released on Blu-ray (Region A/1) for the first time. There’s a new review of the film at the Criterion Cast website: A less easy choice however came in the casting of Miranda, which went to punk rock mega-star (and also star of Criterion-approved Jubilee also from Jarman and the soon to be released Quadrophenia) Toyah Willcox. Always seen as a virginal young woman, Willcox’s punk rock persona far from fit the character, but her performance was really quite entertaining, and the relationship between she and Williams’ Prospero is vital and engaging.

• A larger version of The Tempest Blu-ray cover is also now available. View here.

• Qudrophenia Region A/1 Blu-ray: Read more details on this forthcoming release at Modculture: As they say “You can get a UK Blu-ray already, but the Quadrophenia Criterion Collection Blu-ray release is a considerable step up from that.”

• Also at Modculture: View a limited edition Quadrophenia poster by Piper Gates Design, and read a new article on the movie by Eddie Piller.