Critic Doctor (Herb Kane) - DVD review by Peter Sobczynski: Blow-Up (1966)

"Where Movie Critics Get A Taste Of Their Own Medicine"
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BLOW-UP (DVD)

A hip-yet-disillusioned fashion photographer (David Hemmings) wanders into a park and snaps a bunch of photographs of a man and woman in the distance doing something or other. The woman (Vanessa Redgrave) follows him and desperately pleads
for the incriminating roll of film. After sending her off with a different roll, he develops the pictures and, after blowing them up, he discovers that he might have inadvertently photographed a murder. Then again, maybe not-there is a dead body (for a while, at least) but the photos, while suggestive, are not conclusive. This is the event that pops the photographer out of his ennui for a while until events force him back into his shell. Then again, maybe not.

This is the basic plot of Michelangelo Antonioni's infamous 1966 head-scratcher "Blow-Up"-can it really be nearly 40 years old?-but it hardly begins to suggest the mysterious spell that it casts upon the viewer. (Describing it that way is like saying that
"2001" is simply about a spaceship in trouble). Once celebrated as the epitome of the Swinging '60 era in London (the fashion-photography scenes in the original "Austin Powers" are spot-on parodies of the look seen here), "Blow-Up" (which would be spoofed by Mel Brooks in "High Anxiety" and referenced in Brian De Palma's equally great "Blow Out") now evokes nostalgia of a different sort; it reminds us of a time where movies were allowed to be mysterious and didn't necessarily require everything to be wrapped up with a chase and a shoot-out. (The closing sequence, for example, would never pass muster with a contemporary focus group.) Plus, any movie featuring appearances by both Jane Birkin (as one of the teen models whose naked romping raised eyebrows back in the day) and the Yardbirds is, in my view, automatically a must-see.

I have watched "Blow-Up" numerous times over the years but until viewing the new DVD, I haven't really felt as if I had really seen it thanks to decades of faded prints and horribly cropped videos (even more insulting since the entire film hinges on what we see-or think we see). Perhaps this is the reason why the film, which was once the talk of the film world and was claimed as a masterpiece by many, has more or less fallen off the radar of the great works of cinema in recent years. Finally, the film has been restored to a watchable state and while it may be sparse in the extras department (merely a commentary from Antonioni scholar Peter Brunette and a pair of wild trailers), the main feature should prove to be so mystifying and intriguing that you won't even notice.

Written by Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra and Edward Bond. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Starring David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Verushka and Jane Birkin, 1966. 111 minutes. Unrated. A Warner Home Video release. $19.95

-- DVD Review by Peter Sobczynski

CRITIC DOCTOR DISCLAIMER

While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.

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