Blowup (1966)

In many way’s a good companion piece for A Serious Man. Director Michelangelo Antonioni’s first English language (and second color) feature is (among other things) a rumination on swinging 60’s London (this is a very Mod film) and the callowness of youth. The story concerns an unnamed young photographer (David Hemmings, giving off something of an Oskar Warner type vibe) who photographs vapid and emaciated looking models for the money while holding to a pretentious dream of being of being an important, artistic photographer. One day Hemmings follows a May-December couple in a park hopping to get some slice of life shots, and ends up witnesses to something he doesn’t fully understand. Later blowing up (hence the title) segments from the pictures he took he begins to piece together that he may have been a witness to an attempted, or even actual murder.

The film however dose not really focus on this vaguely mainstream thriller sounding premise, rather it’s a character study, chiefly of Hemmings, and a fascinating encounter with the youth culture of London at that time. The film takes you places you haven’t really been before, even if you think you have, and judging by the critical notices the film got at the time (lots of accolades) it wowed many a professional movie watcher. The film is still well thought of now, I chose to see it simply for further building of film literacy and didn’t expect to like it much, but I was really impressed. It’s a pleasurable film to look at, something about Antonioni’s obvious talent for composition is overwhelming, and brings an incredible sense of life, time and place to what he shoots. Look at the sheer greenness of the park, marvel at the juxtaposing of ugly beautiful modern housing complexes, and beautiful ugly old stone shops. Notice how the parade of overly thin plastic women we see early in the film makes the pleasantly pretty Sarah Miles stand out as the films most pleasant and arguable redeemable female character (or character of either sex for that matter). Also marvel at the documentary quality of the film, that its about swinging 60’s London yet Antonioni clearly has mixed feelings about his subject matter, and he isn’t afraid to present this fact to us. Marvel at Hemmings amoral reaction when he realizes what he saw in the park that day, then watch with mixed frustration and expectation as he proceeds to dither about it. A most impressive work of art, not quite like anything else I’ve seen. Thumbs Up.