D’Mone’ Clendinen
Oct. 2011
Visual Literacy
Film Review: Blow Up
Blow-Up, written by Michelangelo Antonioni, showed the audience what it was like in London in 1966 when the film was made. It shone a light on the awkward fashion, photography, and a very puzzling and shocking murder. “This movie was Antonioni’s first English film and it became his first international box-office success. Blow-Up also liberated film nudity or sexual expressions. This explains why it was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay and won Palme d’Or in 1967.” (Filmsite). I do think that the film was worth screening in that it gave the English-speaking audience a sense of London.
The movie opens up with mimes in a truck driving in town, screaming and laughing. Then it kept switching between the mimes having fun, and then the older mature folks in silence. Then the mimes spotted Thomas the photographer (David Hemmings) in his car. He gave them some money and then he drove to his photo shoot with thinned out model, Verushka. When he is finished then Verushka, he moves his set downstairs to photograph other models. However, they bore him so he cut the shoot short.
After leaving the shoot, he went to an antique shop. Then he trailed off into Mayron Park just up the hill from the shop and took some pictures of a young woman with an older man which seemed to be a secret lover’s affair between the two. So he did his job and tried to leave but the woman spotted him and urged him to give her the negatives but Thomas refused.
Thomas left the park with his pictures then went home after meeting with a collaborator Ron (Peter Bowles). On his way home, the woman from the park and a stranger who was searching his car previously tries to confront him. They want the negatives. So the girl came to his door and begged for the pictures again. Thomas let her in and basically gave her the wrong roll of negatives. When she leaves, he blows up the pictures and some even more to notice that a murder was taking place in that park. I feel that this is could have been different from the short story “Las Babas Del Diablo” by Julio Cortazar. However, I liked the film nonetheless.
I think the theme of this movie was discovery. I feel like Antonioni not only wanted to discover a murder but also the main character, Thomas. Yes the whole movie was centered on the sly photographer sneaking pictures of a “forbidden romance” between two people. However, the photographer discovered his true self as well. In the beginning of the movie, he was arrogant and self-centered. He never wanted to help anyone and used people for what he needed them for. In the end, he became more wholesome. I can tell by when he threw the invisible ball back to the mimes that were playing an imaginary game of tennis. Earlier in the movie, I would’ve never thought that he would do something of such kindness.
In conclusion, the quality of the film was excellent but some parts made my eyes hurt. I also felt that some parts of the movie were disconnected. However, the lighting was amazing and I enjoyed myself in watching the film. I also liked the fact that the movie was mostly silent and it was based on the perception of the mind. In my opinion, I give this movie a thumbs up.
