Blow Up (DVD)

.../> OVERALL

Blow up was certainly Antonioni’s most commercial and probably his best film, he went on to make Zabriskie Point (1970), which is also rightly, considered a classic of the period. The storyline is slight not really a mystery if anything more of a psychological drama but in the end the importance of the murder plot is superficial the really important aspect of the film is the visual style and sound Antonioni employs. Style ...
...film maybe you’re thinking of Blow Out a poor remake in the 80’s starring John Travolta as a sound engineer who captures a murder on tape…one to avoid!


‘Blow Up’ is available on DVD from Play.com for £7.99 delivered.


Thanks for reading and rating this review.

© Mauri 2005
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Most people reading this review will be familiar with the largely misconceived idea of Cool Britannia that was around in the 90’s and many will be familiar with the depiction of ‘Swinging’ London in the Austin Powers spoof spy films, well Michelangelo Antognioni’s cult classic ‘Blow Up’ probably is the best example of what those two concepts grew out of.

‘Blow Up’ is in essence a mystery thriller but more importantly it documented on film the image of London and sixties hedonism and it is this rather than the dramatic content that ultimately it is best remembered for.

THE STORY

Thomas is a top photographer, very hip, very cool. He lives in a trendy London location, drives around in a classic sport car and generally spends his spare time partying with the ‘in’ crowd. One afternoon while taking some speculative photos in a local park he photographs a couple apparently having a lovers tryst. On returning to his studio and developing the photos he discovers that inadvertendly he has been witness to a murder.

CAST, PERFOMANCES AND OPINION

Vanessa Redgrave .... Jane
Sarah Miles .... Patricia
David Hemmings .... Thomas
John Castle .... Bill
Jane Birkin .... The Blonde
Gillian Hills .... The Brunette
Peter Bowles .... Ron

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, written by Julio Cortázar (short story Las babas del diablo)
Michelangelo Antonioni and Tonino Guerra.

Original Music by Herbie Hancock, The Yardbirds (song "Stroll On") and John Sebastian (song "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?").

David Hemmings who at the time along with Terence Stamp and Michael Caine was part of a new brand of young English actors that seemed to symbolise the feel of the ‘liberated’ sixties, plays the central role Thomas, who in reality is a thinly disguised caricature of top Sixties photographer and cultural icon David Bailey. The strong resemblance between Hemmings and Bailey right down to the haircuts and clothes is no accident. Thomas is not a very sympathetic character; he uses people women especially and manipulates situations to suit his own ends. He is supposed to be nonchalant detached and amoral but comes across as rather cold and unfeeling. Antonioni previously known as an arthouse director on the fringes of the neorealist cinema of the 40’s and 50’s is through the character of Thomas commenting on the superficiality of the times. Thomas is in the vanguard of the liberated revolution he produced the images that foster people’s desires and the look of the film with its loud brash imagery mirrors this but the point that is being made is that liberal values and attitudes are fine as long as you are empowered enough to make use of them. The contrast between the superficiality of the manufactured ‘hip’ world and the reality that Thomas as captured in the black and white photograph in which he uncovers the crime is obvious and contrived. Using the same medium he uses to create the plastic consumerism of his trade Thomas has captured something, which is undeniably truthful, someone’s death.

Vanessa Redgrave plays the mystery woman in the photograph that pursues Thomas for the film, at first he thinks that she wants the film because of some sexual indiscretion it has recorded and he decided to use this to exact power over her.

The film is rightly remembered for some quite risqué scenes for the time. There is an erotic photo shoot with the two young wannabe models (one played by another 60’s icon to be Jane Birkin), which then leads to a threesome on the studio floor. In another scene Thomas looks on his sexually frustrated friend Patricia making love to her husband, she aroused by Thomas presence her husband unaware of it.

The film is episodic in its structure and the plot is no more than a series of snap-shots (pun intended) that illustrate the people and attitude of the times. This works well as Antonioni managed to infuse the film with a pacey quality, as a viewer it’s almost as if you are not meant to concentrate too much on the central mystery but rather to flit from one episode to another again in the same way as Thomas seem to be distracted as he tries to delve deeper in to what his photos have captured.

The soundtrack is also worth mentioning, music was intrinsically linked to the rise of youth culture in the 60’s and any film that tries to bring a flavour of the times to the screen has to use music to enhance the images on screen. Antonioni had Herbie Hancock the legendary jazz fusion pianist (although he plays the electric organ on this) to create an atmospheric soundtrack, which was perfect in that it fused the avant garde sound of modern 60’s jazz with the newer pop sensibilities of the period. To this end also included in the film is a live performance in a nightclub scene by The Yardbirds and a song by John Sebastian on the soundtrack, two other leading lights of the 60’s music scene.

OVERALL

Blow up was certainly Antonioni’s most commercial and probably his best film, he went on to make Zabriskie Point (1970), which is also rightly, considered a classic of the period. The storyline is slight not really a mystery if anything more of a psychological drama but in the end the importance of the murder plot is superficial the really important aspect of the film is the visual style and sound Antonioni employs. Style over substance? YES but that’s the point Antonioni was making. For anyone seriously into films or with even a passing interest in the 60’s culture this is essential viewing. It is also a great record of 60’s London. The film went on to win the Palm d’Or at Cannes.

I suppose for many fans of the period it might not be comfortable viewing and for a film that is so often held up as an example of 60’s cool it is quite disparaging of the period and funnily enough as it was made in 1966 before the summer of love and hippy explosion a few year later it seems to predate and almost prophesise the re-evaluation of 60’s permissiveness and liberation that became more accepted in the 70’s. Finally if the plot seems familiar to you but you’re sure you haven’t sent he film maybe you’re thinking of Blow Out a poor remake in the 80’s starring John Travolta as a sound engineer who captures a murder on tape…one to avoid!

‘Blow Up’ is available on DVD from Play.com for £7.99 delivered.

Thanks for reading and rating this review.

© Mauri 2005
 

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