Sebastiane

Kicking off with an outré piece of choreography featuring male dancers sporting giant phalluses, British maverick director Derek Jarman's 1976 feature film debut initially appears as if it's helmed by a gay Federico Fellini. In an orgiastic display of simulated sex, the opening scene climaxes with spurts of white paint covering the face of one dancer before the action shifts to an isolated Sardinian outpost in the year 303, where a Roman soldier named Sebastiane has been banished for his avowed Christian faith. In the sun-drenched locale, he suffers persecution at the hands of his commanding officer and is eventually tortured and killed for his beliefs. In view of the gratuitously nude (or nearly naked) condition of the soldiers, as well as camerawork that fetishizes their tanned and muscular bodies, this early X-rated “homoerotic epic” comes off as little more than narcissistic male porn with oversized artistic pretensions. DVD extras amount to a brief director bio and filmography. Not recommended. (T. Rich)[Blu-ray Review—July 31, 2012—Kino, 85 min., in Latin w/English subtitles, not rated, $29.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1976's Sebastiane features a solid transfer with mono sound, but no extras. Bottom line: Jarman's debut film doesn't much improve on Blu-ray.]