Jubilee is an interesting film, but I am still trying to find an interesting idea in the film. Jubilee definitely entertains; the music is sweet, the costumes are bold and vivacious, and the dialogue is intriguing. But this nihilistic view of the future is so old fashioned, meaning it is so the present fashion. The post-modern world is obsessed with this idea. Gloom and doom mixed with sadomasochism is the philosophy of the present. Now, to be avant-garde means to be ahead of ones time. Back when H.G. Well’s wrote The Time Machine in 1895 it was avant-garde, even prophetic, to warn of humanity headed towards destruction. We also had books like George Orwell’s 1984 (1949) to warn of the future. 1984 comments on how history has no meaning long before Jubilee.
Jubilee is a movie that warns of the future, of course, the movie might be ahead of its time when compared to other movies. But no, a movie version of The Time Machine came out in 1960 by George Pal with basically the same structure: someone or some group looking at the future and seeing the horrors that lie ahead. So much for an original plot. If the plot is not original, what makes this movie avant-garde? Well, maybe it is the way it looks. Wrong again! Movies like A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Zardoz (1973) have a similar futuristic look. It may not be fair to compare images to A Clockwork Orange because that movie had a higher budget. But Zardoz has similar looking effects which I personally enjoy more. Movies like Jim Sharman’s Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) feature transvestites and other weirdos. Jubilee also features a narrative linear structure, which is the conventional way to tell a story.
Is Jubilee avant-garde for its surreal elements, such as a naked man in a Greek mask watching the ballet dancer? Jean Cocteau captures this type of poetic and surrealistic imagery better in The Blood of a Poet (1930). Sorry Jubilee, surrealism has already left its mark.
The characters of Jubilee may find some meaning in their bands; they care about the people in their groups. At least people still stick together in the future, even if their group activities include vandalism, murder, sadomasochism, numerous ways of destruction.
Every element that makes this film experimental or avant-garde has been done before. I guess that means that it is not either. Like Zardoz, Jubilee does not say anything interesting. However, like Zardoz, Jubilee is redeemed because it has high entertainment value. I would not call Jubilee avant-garde or experimental, but at least it is entertaining.
~Kristen Gorlitz