Blow up - Justin DoBosh

Justin DoBosh

Professor Hammond

October 16, 2011

“Blow Up” review

“BLOW UP”

The movie “Blow Up” directed by Michelangelo Antonioni in 1966 was a movie about a London fashion photographer; who while out on a walk stumbles on a couple in a park and starts taking pictures of them. However he later realizes he was photographing a murder; and this bothers him greatly throughout the movie. This movie was one that was filled with lots of sexual and weird scenes throughout it. It is considered by Premiere to have one of the "the sexiest cinematic moment in history". This movie was however very intriguing and enjoyable to watch.

Blow got great reviews from the mass media; Time Magazine called the film a "far-out, uptight and vibrantly exciting picture" and represents a "screeching change of creative direction". Most people agreed that “Blow Up” would undoubtedly be the most popular movie Antonioni has ever made. I agree with what Time Magazine says about “Blow Up”; this movie is one that really makes you feel the way that David Hemmings was feeling throughout the whole movie. Whether it was the anger you felt when he was yelling at the models to pose in different positions and they couldn’t get it right or the feeling or desire when he was photographing Vanessa Redgrave.

Bosley Crowther, a film critic for The New York Times, called “Blow Up” a "fascinating picture, which has something real to say about the matter of personal involvement and emotional commitment in a jazzed-up, media-hooked-in world so cluttered with synthetic stimulations that natural feelings are overwhelmed". However not everyone had high expectations for the film Bosley Crowther originally though it was going to be another seemingly endless wanderings and redundantly long movie by Michelangelo Antonioni. The movie “Blow Up” is not a long movie at all it is only 110 minutes and most current movies today are that and longer. Also the plot for “Blow Up” was one that was easy to follow; as a viewer I never had to make hard inferences to be able to keep up with the movie nor did I ever have to stop and think about what was going on.

However this movie ends in a way that I don’t like; it ends with David Hemmings giving up on solving the murder and throwing an imaginary ball back to the mimes playing tennis. This is the only part in the movie that confuses me because it just ends there. What I think it is supposed to mean is him relinquishing the task of finding the murder because it was never his problem to deal with in the first place it just fell into his lap and he felt like he had to do something about it. The ball symbolizes the problem of finding out who the murder is and the mimes playing tennis are the supposed to represent the couple in the park. And now after he has put all this effort into trying to solve the murder and he can’t; he has decided to give up and move on; Which is symbolized when David Hemmings throws the ball back to the mimes This is the only part that I had to make my own inference about what the movie was supposed to mean; however that’s what I believe made it so good because it left it up to you to decided what you though it meant.

The Movie “Blow Up” is one that takes two unrelated events and puts them together in a way that; makes this movie interesting to watch. Michelangelo Antonioni’s movie “Blow Up” is considered by some to have the sexiest cinematic moment in history while also being a movie about a murder mystery. “Blow Up” has so many different components in it and does such a good job at linking them all together that it has earned the right to be called a great movie.

Works cited

"Blowup." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. .

"Blow-Up (1966) - Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies." Yahoo! Movies: Read Movie Reviews, Find Showtimes and View Trailers. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. .