Day 216 - Blow-Up

Tuesday November 22, 2011

Blow-Up (1966) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

I didn't get it. There, I said it. It's actually kind of amazing that I haven't said those words more often because I've watched some confusing stuff during this challenge but this was one of the few movies where I just didn't see what the big deal was. I know this movie was what inspired Brian DePalma's Blow Out, so I assumed it would be a similar type of thriller, but aside from a basic plot outline they are quite opposite.

The plot description of Blow-Up is actually somewhat misleading. You assume that the murder mystery is the main point of the film but it's really more about Thomas's lifestyle which on the surface looks exciting but you can tell he is actually bored with it. He lives a posh lifestyle, photographs super models and has crazy orgies, but doesn't seem to interested in anything. The majority of the film are these sort of episodic events where not much happens in plot, but supposedly a lot happens in bringing out this point of Thomas's lifeless existence. I just didn't see why I should care though. I suppose it is a time period thing, capturing the mood of the 1960's which I was never a part of. Is Antonioni pointing out the pointlessness of the time period? 

I'm all for slow developing movies, but it really did seem like this movie was going nowhere fast. I was a little bored so by the time it got to the part where Thomas thinks he sees a murder in one of his photographs, I'm already sort of whatever about it. At this point you expect the tone of the movie to shift into the suspenseful thriller that Blow Out is, but it even treats the murder mystery with the same kind of meandering attitude as the rest of the film.

The thing is that I'm not really hating on the movie. In fact there are several scenes that I thought were good and/or interesting, but they just didn't mean much to me when packaged together as a whole. I guess indifferent would be the best word to use. And could someone please explain to me the meaning behind the last scene with the mimes playing air tennis? I've been thinking about it for a while but can't really come up with anything. 

This is probably a movie that I totally missed the boat on and I would love nothing more than to be convinced that I'm retarded. And who knows, maybe if I watch it again I'll have another opinion on it so I guess this will have to go back in the queue with a couple other movies I might have screwed up on.

Grade: C