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Blow Up [1966]


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A 'Must-Go-And-See-' movie in its day!
Review date: 2008-10-21 Rating: 8 out of 10

Went to the pictures to see this one, the Regent Cinema in Poole, long gone now, has the Dolphin Shopping Centre built on where it was.
Of course, The Yardbirds were my main attraction for going to see the film, as was the case for many of my peers. Since then we have heard The Who were originally the first choice for the featured band, but they were touring and unable, hence Jeff Beck's rather uncharacteristic guitar-smashing routine, which needed to be done to fit in with the plot, (but note how the guitar changes from an expensive Les Paul to a cheap semi-acoustic model, which also smashed-up far better!)
'Blow Up' was the very first British film to feature, and get away with full-frontal nudity; this was the 1960's and things were changing FAST, and obviously the British Board of Film Censor's must have been as happy as everyone else to 'do their own thing'? But it's not FF nudity just for the sake of it, one can imagine someone like David Hemmings' character in a situation like that with most, if not all of his female models in the 60's; maybe even now? And contrary to other reviewer's opinions, the 60's were very much as this film depicts it, maybe they are too young to remember?
But in much the same way as other 'seemingly confusing' movies like 'Jacob's Ladder' and 'The Usual Suspects,' 'Blow Up' also has the distinction of being a very confusing film in a most satisfying way, and this, I think, is part of its' magic and the key to its' longevity. It made you think then, and it will still make you think now, and despite the 'Classic Yardbird's Line-Up' being captured for posterity, the whole film has stood the test of time, and whilst being a benchmark of mid-1960's London and its' 'swinging scene,' it is superb also for the mystery and its' ability to make the viewer think about what went on as a whole, and hence, feel the nagging desire to watch it again and again.

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Reviews


It was a time when all buses were red in London
Review date: 2008-08-15 Rating: 10 out of 10

A strange film by Michelangelo Antonioni. It is a whole period of our life that is coming back. 1966. They dressed bizarre in those days. They behave slightly crazy too. The world was entering the new phase or virtuality. The cold war was a virtual war secreting a virtual peace. The long dreamed for well-off comfort was coming up for the few, the happy few who could follow a track that took them away from the factories. Cars were introducing virtual independence. The new generation of records and turntables and record players was bringing some quite acceptable sound home: virtual music. And real music was not better with all the amplifiers and the loudspeakers: virtual music again. Even life itself was becoming virtual due to the new cameras and the new photography, so fine that even the smallest detail became visible in this virtual life of the photograph. And when the camera caught a body, a crime, a murder, it was only virtual and the body only existed as long as the pictures existed. When the pictures were stolen and destroyed, then the body disappeared. It had only been a virtual body. And even tennis became virtual, with no balls, with no rackets, just the movements and the setting and you could have a tennis game even with no partner at all: virtual tennis. Just like a plane became virtual by being reduced to one propeller, the promise of movement, of flying. Before 1968 and after the real nightmare of the second world war everything turned virtual, the way it had never been before and the best symbol of that virtuality was the camera and its pictures that were so true and yet so virtual. You will enter this film just the way you enter a dream: convinced it is true and yet knowing it is an illusion and when you come out of it your head will still be full with the noise and the fury of that dream where everything true is lived again and yet it is distorted in such a way that it is no longer anything at all. A very sad film from a time when life was just starting to recapture a value after all the drama and tragedy of the 30s and 40s and 50s.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


an aphrodisiac vision by antonioni
Review date: 2008-07-16 Rating: 10 out of 10

antoni is for cinema what DALI is to art -reinventing a new style without effort in a spontaneous creative burst,every frame is sparse ,laconic yet as meticulously detailed as a da vinci painting,its minimalism becomes its way to acess it's targeted audience,

just as the vitriolic character of the obsessive photographer suffocates on his cannabis joints ,

the alleged comitted crime is an ilusion or just an allusion ,the hidden corpse becomes the silent mock tennis ball game with harlequins celebrating death in silence ,just like the dynamics of the threesome sex rampage against a purple screen,metaphors or sarcasm on the indulgent media itself,

hemming is evil and terse and as spartan as socrates could imagine -he whiles away with models as inanimate objects,both robotic and sadistic ,this is a pscyhological and satirical masterpiece with characters like saryrs and nymphs ,

london and the green park with the metaphorical wizened tree in the center is almost telling an age old tale of greed,lust and intrigue ,but it comes complete in it's abstract yet crystal clear ending worth a thousand images .

the world of images ,illusions and inticate intrigue will never be the same after this masterpiece .

i agree hemming looks like stamp did in collector ,stoic-impassive and obsessive compulsive ,

this is an ode to self indulgence from a genius and i wonder if all great art is indulgence itself ,both on parts of the creator and viewer ,here while antoni is indulging we are reduced to petty ,delightful voyeurs into the drug drenched world of chic media and the altar ego of fashion and style .genius but if you admire surrealism only

usman khawaja


One up for Blow Up
Review date: 2007-08-20 Rating: 8 out of 10

Reading the various reviews of Blow Up, some for, some against, prompted me to at least add my tuppence worth on a film I've long liked and would recommend as being at least as honest a representation on 60's London as was made at that time.
The film's music was very hip and the director deserves real credit in getting a then little known(at least in the U.K.)Herbie Hancock and luminaries to write the soundtrack after apparently failing to find anybody here able to handle what was required (although I'm sure Tubby Hayes or Georgie Fame could have written just as suitable scores had they been asked). Not every film of that period would have included a clip of the Yardbirds as well, even if their music by then had veered away from their old R&B trip.
Blow Up was made just prior to the psychedelic era and to a large extent avoids the trap that so many films depicting the 60's fell into by including large amounts of peace, love and hippy imagery.
The clothes are very representative of that time, right down from the girls with their very skinny Mod clothing, to Hemmings' white strides and black Chelsea boots and looking back at the street scenes in London, Antonioni gets pretty well everything spot on, unlike so many others doing 60's retrospectives a few years later. Yes, Hemmings is full of arrogance but his treatment of women in general is once again very true to life and mirrored very closely the prevailing attitudes. Women's Lib was hardly on the radar screen in '66, despite the presence of Germaine Greer in and around town. Politically correct simply didn't come into it.
As for the film and plot ? It must have been the only film that I'd seen not to have any background music running throughout and with it being shot in black and white, simply added to the overall starkness. A strange meandering plot for sure, but who cares ? There have been plenty of whacky plots that nobody understood before without distracting from the overall enjoyment. Even Vanessa Redgrave's very hammy performance at smoking a spliff is worth the watch.
So for students of the Sixties this is certainly worth shelling out for. Not being a film buff or film nerd I've no interest in comparing Blow Up with art house contemporary films from around that time. But as a film that depicts London in '66 and the attitudes that existed, Antonioni gets it as right as anybody could have and gets my thumbs up.

A bona fide masterpiece, pretentious or not
Review date: 2007-07-16 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is still one of the most mesmerising films I've ever seen and one of those I rarely get tired of rewatching. It IS pretentious and arty, there's no getting away from it, but the brilliance of its premise, its theme, the unresolved mystery, but most of all its direction and photography are things that burn this brilliant movie into the mind. It was of course manipulating its audience at the time of its release and fully exploited the swinging London scene, but it really does have the feel of its hedonistic age about it - In fact I think it somes up the 60s better than any other British movie. Its famous (or infamous) plot is really beautifully handled by Antonioni, and teases us right up to the end. The lovely airiness of the film's atmosphere owes much of this to location filming on quiet days, or very early in the morning, but most probably on Sunday, and the use of non-central locations, including the park. The photography is quite sensational and how this avoided getting a nomination for an oscar is really beyond me. The cinematographer uses great angles and slow zooms to make London look like it was having a model shoot itself. The film is such a fantastic piece of work, even despite the one element that does make me cringe-the dreaded miming students-that I just cant see why so many are still either sceptical about its brilliance, or just don't get the whole thing. Come on, this is cinematic magnificence!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Sarah Miles
Vanessa Redgrave
David Hemmings
The Yardbirds

Creators:
Vanessa Redgrave (Primary Contributor)
David Hemmings (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900651356
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2005-07-04
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 106 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1966
Language: English (Original Language)

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