Review

by Joanne P

Antonioni's flawed yet fascinatingly abstract oddity

Blow up is a film wherein it is necessary for full concentration and awareness to understand it. It is an arty film, filled with controversial violence, nudity, and drugs - and open to interpretation. The initial story follows a photographer (David Hemmings) inadvertently catching shots of a murder whilst innocently shooting a couple in a park. At first glance this film is questioning a murder, but on closer inspection it is questioning perception - did the murder actually take place at all? - Who can we actually trust? Michelangelo Antonioni’s direction is controversial, yet stunningly contrived, and has drawn a wealth of mixed reviews. It is a nihilistic and fascinatingly enigmatic abstract, full of subtleties that are easy to miss. The acting is reasonably weak, but with a storyline so riddled with questioning reality it doesn’t seem to matter.