DigiPack

Blow-Up Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, February 27, 2017



The photographer

There are a couple of different ways to deconstruct Italian master Michaleangelo Antonioni's first English-language film and below I will present two that should make the most sense to first-time viewers. Like the majority of Antonioni's films, however,allows for multiple interpretations, so after repeated viewings you will almost certainly discover a lot more that is worth analyzing and discussing.The film is set in London during the 'Swinging Sixties' at a very precise time when a lot is happening too quickly. There are artists, designers, and musicians that are changing the city's socio-cultural scene at such a frenetic pace that it is virtually impossible to keep track of everything that excites the people. There are too many big parties and too many important concerts to attend, too many new boutique stores and art exhibitions to see.But one man believes that he is a few steps ahead of everyone else and is trying to do precisely that. His name is Thomas (David Hemmings) and he is a fashion photographer with incredible instincts that allow him to 'see' with his camera what everyone else ignores. He is always on the move and rarely has time to engage in conversations, which is why from afar he routinely looks like an eccentric loner on a mission to offend anyone that dares to speak to him.In a key segment of the film Thomas is approached by a young woman (Vanessa Redgrave) after he photographs her with a stranger in a secluded area of a beautiful park. The woman begs him to give her the negative and after he refuses she follows him back to his chic apartment, where she attempts to seduce him and steal the negative but gets caught on the way out. The short but intellectually stimulating seduction game inspires Thomas to find out why the woman is obsessed with his photographs, and later on, while examining a stack of large blow-ups, he discovers that he might have accidentally captured the murder of the man that was accompanying the woman in the park.Here's what Antonioni does with the narrative and how this provides his film with multiple identities: The murder is the crucial element that gives the narrative its structure, but it is essentially a brilliant distraction. Indeed, even though for a long time it appears that the focus of attention is on Thomas and his maddening struggle to solve the murder mystery, eventually the film veers off in a different direction and it becomes quite clear that he will not emerge as a surprisingly clever detective. So the film can certainly function as a crime thriller, but if viewed as such it is rather underwhelming.Now here's what makes this film special: If you flip the narrative and pay close attention to how the entire film is shot, you will realize that for its duration Thomas essentially becomes Antonioni's alter ego. While Thomas is studying the blow-ups and looking for clues, Antonioni begins exploring a very busy London from the 'Swinging Sixties' era and captures it in the same way Thomas does when he discovers the seemingly invisible beauty and elegance of his models -- by 'seeing' from a completely different angle that is accessible only trough his camera. As such, the film very quickly evolves into a fascinating period trip that only an outsider and visionary like Antonioni could have mapped out.The soundtrack features a number of excellent original tracks by American jazz legend Herbie Hancock and English rockers The Yardbrids.