Antonioni tried to warn us

It’s films like Blow-Up that make me wish I saw them on the big screen. Had I seen this in a cinema, I probably would have wandered the streets into the night until 3am, hands in pockets, slowly taking in everything I just witnessed, for this is genuinely one of the most overwhelming experiences I’ve ever had watching a film.

I’m not going to sit here and say that this is one of the most entertaining films ever made, nor one I understand every single idea Antonioni is throwing my way. It certainly has the power to leave one completely underwhelmed or in a fit of rage, throw the Blu-ray across the room, never to be watched again, especially considering it’s more ambience heavy than dialogue and the main premise of the film doesn’t really kick in until about the hour mark. This film clicked with me on the first viewing, yet not to the point it’s affected me through this rewatch. I knew with a second viewing this would become one of my favorites and I was correct, for Blow-Up really is one of the most mesmerizing and compelling pieces of work that I have ever seen and what it has to say absolutely rings true to today. The fact that I was absolutely busting to go to the toilet and held it in for the entire runtime because I just couldn’t take my eyes off of it should tell you everything you need to know. There really is no other film quite like it.

This is probably the single most authentic and naturalistic depiction of a person going about their day and profession in their environment that I’ve ever seen, and I think that’s a better way to sell this movie to those who haven’t seen it rather than the premise that follows it. I was hypnotized from beginning to end, specifically the scenes where Thomas (David Hemmings) eventually develops the shots he’s taken and slowly notices and pieces together some disturbing imagery he hadn’t seen when he had taken the pictures.

I’ve read a lot of criticisms about Antonioni’s films like L’Avventura, La Notte, L’Eclisse, Red Desert, etc. in more contemporary reviews that they’ve become dated as time has gone on. I can agree with this to a certain extent, mainly for the time period they’re set in, but I disagree that the films and ideas themselves are dated. These films feel like cautionary tales, as they have such an eerie and haunting quality about them from their cinematography and sound design in the modern society that they are trying to depict that you can still apply them to the world we live in today. I’d even go as far to call Antonioni a horror filmmaker. The type of horror that really sticks and unnerves me the most are the ones that are grounded in reality. Or in a case like 2001: A Space Odyssey, the unknown. This film is pure existentialist dread and hopelessness for the shape of things to come, executed in a way that does not come off as pretentious but extremely true to life.

Blow-Up is the film from Antonioni that is still the most prescient today, especially in it’s depiction of the youth and their disillusionment in the mod movement, which on my first viewing, I knew virtually nothing about. Familiarizing myself more with bands since then from that movement like The Who, The Kinks, Small Faces and The Yardbirds (who perform in the film towards the end) really gave me a better grasp of the lifestyle that the mods had led and damn, it really hasn’t gotten any better as time has gone on. I’m only nineteen but through my own experiences, I can certainly attest that the youth of today is really in a lot of trouble, on an unprecedented scale that has never been seen before when it comes to mental health and disillusionment, seeking solace in temporary stimulants like pornography, drugs and sex that only make one feel even worse right after. This has definitely been passed on from the era of the mods and the sexual revolution of the 1960s and it’s only gotten worse. It genuinely breaks my heart to see this suffering and fall from grace take place before my eyes from people looking for purpose in their life, who sometimes just need someone to listen to them. Everytime I go outside now, the world and my place in it feels exactly like the one depicted here in Blow-Up and unfortunately, it truly has aged like fine wine.

Antonioni tried to warn us and we ignored him.