So you recall my excitement at Derek being on More4 last night? Well, I admit, I was a bit confused and a bit disappointed, as well as being (inevitably) moved by some of it. I've been sitting here pontificating all morning about my confusion, and I think I've narrowed it to two things - excuse the list format:

1. Surely if you're making a doc about a great avant-garde artist-filmmaker, and you're a prize-winning artist yourself, you try and do something experimental with the documentary format? Because this sort of didn't - it was informative, and it took you through Jarman's life nicely for the uninitiated, but a chronological tour led by the hand wasn't what I was expecting. You've got this subject doing an amazing interview which includes some truly beautiful statements and ideas, but it's all wrapped up in the standard biopic structure of birth-life-death, with some illustrative clips in-between. But, isn't one of the amazing things about Jarman that his films (especially the Super 8 ones) were in themselves autobiographical journeys, so you don't need to embellish that? He's the perfect documentary subject - you build on the life he's already given you, you don't need to recreate it.

(And anyway, Derek Jarman is one of those filmmakers people get obsessed by so probably, the life history came as a surprise to no-one watching)

2. It was so totally mournful! Obviously, you're making a documentary about someone who died, so that's inevitable to some degree, but Jarman's whole life was about living, doing something new, 'Kicking against the Pricks' (the name of the book version of The Last of England) and setting new agendas. It wasn't about commemorating or complaning - Jarman's anger at the complacency of 80s Britain meant he made new and wonderful things on his own terms. So when Tilda Swinton reads out her excellently-composed letter throughout the film, and (rightly) rails against the lack of attention and support given to modern auteurs like Jarman, I just think we should be doing something totally new about it, not making commemorative documentaries.

But perhaps I'm reading too much theory into it. It was a lovely tribute to a great filmmaker, and in combination with the Serpentine Exhibition, 3 screenings of Jarman films on More4, and especially the new Jarman Award, it's bound to mean more attention for him. Perhaps my confused reaction is because I was provoked into thinking that memorials and wails don't help the "new Jarmans" - giving spaces for them to show their films definitely does...and so ultimately those kind of firework blasts of films are the kind of documentaries I'd rather see on my telly than this one.