I really hated this film. I have watched many experimental, ambitious, and complex movies that demand much thought and attention from the viewer, but this one was an inexcusable exercise in self-indulgence by the filmmaker. The voice overs contained language which was heartbreakingly beautiful and I wished that more of that intelligence and beauty had been transmitted to the rest of the movie. Instead we get a tawdry pastiche of soft-core pornography which becomes so tedious that, when another perfect male form was displayed I became numb and angry. One would imagine that Caravvagio created his work in a vacuum, and that his art was a product of his violent and transgressive nature only. Having studied art, and being an artist myself, I was looking for some insight into this fascinating man and his revolutionary work. The scenes of him painting were unconvincing and the paintings in progress looked like amateur attempts in figure-drawing. I was able to wrest some meaning from Caravaggio, but that occurred early on and the only reason I kept watching it was the thought that it would kick in and start making some overarching sense. Watching this would lead one to believe that Renaissance Italy was populated mostly by homosexuals with a strong predilection for violent sex, and the clergy who exploited them for their private titillation. "Caravvagio" managed to demean the people it was trying to celebrate, oversimplify a complex individual, and bore and confuse its audience. Only recommended for a committed student of Jarman's work, as the "auteur" was obviously more interested in himself than in the subject.
Review of Caravaggio
