Derek Jarman Super 8 - James Mackay - Thames & Hudson

It is unlikely there is anyone more qualified to present this book than it's author James Mackay. As producer and collaborator on virtually all of Jarman's films his knowledge and insight into the works and their author is unimpeachable. Mackay is also the guardian of Jarman's Super 8 archive. Having recently undertaken the task of restoring the prints to their original splendor he has selected a mere 780 stills to provide us (when not sat before the prints themselves) with a glimpse into Jarman's relentless brilliance as an image maker. The stills are ravishing. Each frame, even in isolation seems pregnant with meaning. They make you yearn to see the films again and again. I suspect this book will invest the films themselves with even greater power. In a way, studying these images is a little like examining the meticulous brushwork on a mural for the first time. Our  perception of the mural in its entirety is irreversibly transformed thereafter.