Thomas, a London photographer who spends his time photographing fashion models, has unwittingly captured a murder on film. And one day, the woman in the photo has appeared at his studio, and wants the pictures he took.
This is so ravishing to look at (the colors all seem newly minted) and pleasurable to follow (the enigmas are usually more teasing than worrying) that you're likely to excuse the metaphysical pretensions.
In Blow-Up [Antonioni] smothers this conflict in the kind of pompous platitudes the press loves to designate as proper to "mature," "adult," "sober" art.
The natural world is arrayed against the artificial scene; conscience is deployed against convention. If you've never seen Blow-Up, see it now, if only to see what part of the world was like 40 years ago.
ColeSmithey.com
August 22, 2015
Michelangelo Antonioni's first English language film is an allegorical murder mystery whose abstract parameters delineate a society where images are more important, and lasting, than reality.
There may be some meaning, some commentary about life being a game, beyond what remains locked in the mind of film's creator, Italian director-writer Michelangelo Antonioni. But it is doubtful that the general public will get the 'message' of this film.
Antonioni's first English-speaking film is a seminal work of the 1960s, reflecting swinging London as well as dealing with voyeurism, artists' social responsbilities and other relevant issues.
This remains a failure for which I would trade ten successes: a totally absorbing experience on the screen, a film of deceptive, tricky surfaces and cold perceptions.
