Movie Review
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
Duration: 1 hour 51 Min
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Released: 1966
Julio Cortazar, David Bailey and Swinging
London.
It’s difficult to assess which format of Blow Up
created the greatest impact. Was it the 1959 Julio
Cortazar short story originally titled, ‘Las babas
del diablo’ (‘The Devil’s Drool) ? Or was it the
1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film of the same
title ?
I am of the opinion that it’s the latter, but before
I state my case, let me take you through a
snapshot of what Blow Up is about.
The film takes the viewer through the wishwash
of the high profile fashion photographer,
Thomas Hemmings. He is constantly delayed
due to his artistic perspective and it’s taking a
toll on his daily schedule. During one of his
artistics escapades in a public park, Thomas
photographs a man and a woman deeply in love.
At his photo studio he notices an oddity in the
frame. And begins to blow up the image. He
notices a gun. The story then revolves around
how Thomas tries to piece together the murder
that took place in the park.
In a certain sense, Antonioni didn’t receive the
kind of acknowledgement that a Bergman or a
Kurosawa received, but I personally put him
right up there with the two. Its simply because
Antonioni, despite his lack of public rockstar
status, was almost godfather to cinema aesthetes.
Blow Up was a definite expression of what the
counterculture London was in a really real sense.
It takes us in the the artist’s world- the madness
of drug induced parties, blatant sex and of the
age old hierarchies of power and progress.
Blow Up was shocking owing to its casualness
with respect to its take on the aforementioned
topics- thoughts that were both secret and
sacred- not occupying a space of public
consciousness.
In Blow Up, there is also a scene featuring The
Yardbirds- a band featuring
Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
The underground had never
been better represented in its
noise,
excitement
and
rawness. Antonioni shows
that a film in terms of its story
needn’t necessarily be roped
to its past, but there is always
a room to appeal to the
voraciousness of the present.
Its a deeply influential film in
the sense that language wasn’t
a bar to pay homage to its
legacy. Austin Powers, Blow
Out and the Indian film,
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron paid
24
Vol 5
their homage to this film. The writers of Jaane
Bhi Do Yaaron went as far as to replicate the
park scene in Blow Up and name the park where
the accident takes place Antonioni Park.
There is a shocking originality in the Cortazar
short story. It is in fact based on real life
experiences of a London based photographer,
David Bailey. It’s a pretty crazy story, but it
actually happened ! Cortazar was told this story
by a friend, Sergio Larraín, another
photographer.
The plot, the twist and the tale are ingenious
works of literature. Antonioni is one of the rare
filmmakers who could take a story and be
conscious of an honest adaptation. Very often I
feel that filmmakers, when they make a film
based on a story created for literature, the end
product is either underwhelming or
overwhelming. Whether the experience is
positive or negative is connotation for a different
argument. However, Antonioni is a master of
balancing the flavor of the story.
His touch is inimitable and as a viewer, we are
instantly transported into a version of London,
steeped in the counterculture.
The experience of Blow Up as a film is
unmistakable. Right from the the lighting to the
cinematography to the music, Blow Up tells us a
picture, whether static or in motion, is a form of
time-travel. Both Antonioni and Cortazar are
master storytellers and the synergies of the
written word and the moving picture makes
Blow Up a must watch.
Vignesh Swaminathan
[email protected]
Vignesh Swaminathan is a Product
Designer by training. His interests include
watching films, artificial Intelligence,
football and reading non-fiction books.
Vignesh supports Arsenal FC.