Pet Shop Boys: Projections

Pet Shop Boys: Projections

In 1989, the Pet Shop Boys embarked on a rare tour, recruiting filmmaker Derek Jarman (The Last Of England, Edward II) as a director. Filled with elaborate costumes and other theatrical touches, the concerts also utilized specially made Jarman films, which make up the bulk of the new Pet Shop Boys: Projections collection. While that footage might sound dispensable, it's not, especially for admirers of Jarman or the band. It's difficult to think of a collaboration more fitting, or sensibilities more suitably aligned: Beneath the cool irony on the surface of both the Pet Shop Boys' music and Jarman's films lies a deep concern. Though Jarman's clips for such '80s staples as "Heart," "It's A Sin," and "Domino Dancing" lose something when torn from their context—they originally accompanied a good deal of front-stage prancing about by Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe, and company—they still work well as stand-alone music videos. Using reworked home movies, stock footage, new footage juxtaposed with images of England past, and Kenneth Anger-inspired low-budget decadence, Jarman creates specifically English, specifically '80s, and specifically gay imagery as well-suited for the group as the clips he created for The Smiths. Jarman, who died of AIDS in 1994, left too few films in his truncated career, and it's nice, if bittersweet, to see that even his marginal work is being released.

 
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