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I bought the movie Blow Up because it was not being shown on t.v. and I could not rent it. When the lead actor in the movie, David Hemmings, passed away recently, there was much written about the film that made him so popular. He plays a fashion photographer who takes photos of a couple in a park and later realizes as he develops and enlarges his photos that he has captured a murder. It was one of Venessa Redgrave's earliest parts. Most would consider it an art film and silimar to today's independent movies. I enjoyed it more as a period piece of London's Swinging 60's and was amused by how shocking the movie was in it's day.
One might say that to young, impassioned, London photographer Thomas (David Hemmings), "Blow-Up" is like "24" is for Jack Bauer--a day in the life, albeit one of extraordinary events. Michelangelo Antonioni's first English language film covers roughly a 24 hour period in a photographer's life in 1966, amid the same mod England surrounding the Beatles during their peak. The day starts off with a couple of model shoots (he is demanding with his subjects), and a visit to an antique shop. As the day progresses, we learn he is also working with his agent as a contributor to an upcoming artsy photo book. Shooting for this project, he stumbles across an intriguing couple in a park and captures them on film from a distance. The mysterious woman (Vanessa Redgrave), upon spotting Thomas demands the pictures, but he says this is a public place and he has a right to photograph them. She tracks him down to his studio later in the day and makes every plea imaginable to get the film, including offering to pose nude and even have sex with him. To get rid of her, he pulls the old film switcheroo. He then enters his lavishly equipped darkroom, processes the real roll, and blows all frames up to 16 x 20. Thinking there is more to be seen he consequently uses a 4 x 5 view camera to re-photograph a small portion of one print, and then enlarges the resulting negative. This evokes fond memories for the pre-digital era. He spots what looks like a dead body and a man with a gun. To tell more would be to spoil. What I like most about Blow-Up is, that while many movies have photographers as protagonists, Thomas actually gets the photo processes right: safelights, chemicals, using the enlarger, a film drying cabinet (sure could have used one when we did the high school yearbook!),a freezer for storing unexposed film and paper; and when using the view camera, proper insertion of the film carrier, and removal and replacement of the dark slide. This was only the second feature for Hemmings, a great start to a career of over 30 more films up to his death in 2003. One of the lighter moments with Redgrave (we never learn her name) is when Thomas is playing a jazz LP and she is grooving, first with, then against, the beat. Blow-Up has a Hitchcock feel to it, but also the slower pace and sparce sound of a foreign film. I don't know that I would recommend Blow-Up to everyone, but if you've ever been serious enough about photography to have used a darkroom, this is one movie you shouldn't miss.Read full review
Product was good. I seen this movie in 1966 or 67. I didn’t understand or get it then. So I thought I would watch it again to see if it made more since to me since I was older. It didn’t.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The first time I saw this movie was in a film appreciation class as a freshman in college (1977). I've always been a fan of the 60's so I thought it was interesting. Later that year I became very involved in black and white photography and made a point of watching the film again. It had a completely different feel to me then. Not as a story against a 60s background but as the art form that photography and film is. And as I had matured I could better appreciate the pursuit of something that you have convinced yourself is out there but you just can't find it. But in the final scene I think he finds that what you see, or don't see, in not what is important. But what you choose to do about it is. Great show by the Yardbirds, by the way. This movie has been on my top ten list for three decades now.Read full review
This is a classic from Antonioni's body of work. It captures the essence of pop culture in the 60's - and mixes it with yet another existential set of questions this director and film maker embeds into the plot and narrative.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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