Jubilee

Queen Elizabeth I seeks direct knowledge of the future, and an accommodating angel is summoned, divinely endowed with prophetic precision he graciously enables clairvoyant caricatures, as they travel to a post-apocalyptic future feverishly enamoured with punk rock.

Strange to provide ahistorical comparisons between the alternative social constructs, but whereas the Queen monopolises power way back when, a media mogul exercises similar authority over yonder.

His friends characterize the past with random inspired proclamations, like a series of disgruntled spirited diatribes diabolically manifested through armageddon. 

Puzzling to the astonished Queen who takes it in with modest whimsy, somewhat shocked by the blatant contrasts but otherwise scientifically disposed.

The police have taken to violence and no longer put up with the slightest objection, quickly firing should constructive criticisms ever dare to voice concerns.

People discovered with nothing to do must endure underground lectures on various topics, an audience desired found within the streets where millions remain unemployed.

What can the bewildered Queen then boldly administer amongst her subjects?

To imagine alternative global paths.

Prominently incorporating widespread leisure. 

Treading imaginatively throughout time multivariable presents chaotically mingle, to effectively generate kinetic shards exuberantly coruscating wild endeavours.

Had the Queen spent more time delicately observing the tribulations of her stately epoch, perhaps the sensational uproars may have seemed less grandiose as semantically situated within composite streams.

Thoroughly saturated embellished beacons enthusiastically disseminating jocose hypotheses, not as devoutly determined by chronological forecasts much more individualistically composed. 

Like ye olde Lite Brite or David Lynch's picture to be found in another room, Jarman bedazzlingly creates improvised disharmonies through substantial recourse to extant obscurity. 

With good times endearingly awaiting the shape-shifting collectives in balm and friendship, indeed forging lackadaisical teams to fortuitously treasure infinite subjectivity. 

Carefree and unfortunately at odds with so many disciplined lavish demeanours.

Still unafraid to ebulliently exist.

Brilliant breaching.

Nebulous nerve. 

*Criterion keyword: freight. 

Meditate and Destroy

Always intriguing when seemingly disparate dimensions synthesize and form a productive counterpoint. But I'm not convinced this is what Noah Levine and Sarah Fisher have achieved in Meditate and Destroy, a documentary film examining the life and teachings of dharma punk Noah Levine. Levine's commitment to buddhism is sound and its principles have provided his life with ways in which to peacefully 'harmonize' with his community. But the role punk rock continues to play in his buddhist meditations isn't investigated as thoroughly within. Facts: Levine adhered to punk gospel in his youth and has placed buddhism within an inclusive frame that can assist individuals engaging in destructive behaviour in finding alternative outlets for their anger. It's not that their anger isn't justified, but more of a situation where Levine provides people suffering from abuse and/or addiction and/or exclusion with an outlet through which they can learn to seek inner peace through self-reflection, and make adjustments that can lead to different non-violent ways of expressing themselves, after having learned to question and understand the reasons governing their destructive conduct. Note that this process is continuous, questions leading to understandings which lead to more questions which lead to different understandings and so on. The film's form shows how individual punks become part of a buddhist community and how that buddhist community is composed of individual punks by consistently presenting groups of people, introducing us to members through close-ups, and then interviewing everyone found within these close-ups, thereby giving them a voice through which they can express how Levine's approach has helped them, moving back and forth between "translator" and "translation" while blurring the lines and showing how each individualized focus is simultaneously both a reflection and foundational component of their universal commitment. But where does the countercultural nature of punk rock fit into this universal commitment, and does it re-manifest itself within? The title of the film is misleading insofar as the Destroy factor is pacified considerably but perhaps that's the point, i.e., learning to destroy destructive behaviours peacefully through an egalitarian disposition that actively accepts and recognizes subjective shortcomings while passively pursuing and elevating an objective inclusive ideal? Taking a word like 'destroy' and re-imagining its meaning in such a way is certainly impressive. And totally punk!