Blowup
I am in the process of watching the second half of “L’éclisse” also by Antonioni and I have no idea what I should think about this director. While “L’éclisse” is the ultimate good-looking borefest, “Blowup” actually was interesting and beautiful at the same time. Both films are similar in many ways: They both build up the story very slowly, they both emphasize on the cinematography and small gestures. I suspect that this is Antonioni’s style. However, in the way both films deal with relationships, they are utterly different.
And what beauty this film is! I never cared about the mod subculture and probably never will in the future, but this film feels like it serves as brilliant portrait of the 60s that I have never quite really taken an interest in before.
Right now, I am not sure where my fascination for this film actually comes from. The aspect of photography completely relates to my personal interests, not to mention how every single photo taken in the film is absolutely marvelous. To me, “Blowup” feels like an ode to photography as an art form, as a way to look at the world, at this something on the verge between reality and illusion. It’s all about pictures, and it fits to Antonioni like nothing else; every single of his shots look like it could just as well be an art photo.
Another reason why I might have been so fascinated by this film is that I haven’t seen anything for quite awhile. While the last films I have seen were quite great and some of them also rather subtle and deep (like “Je rentre à la maison”), it’s been awhile and I barely remember much of them anymore. After killing time with random things and studying, I felt so immensely refreshed to see a film like this. More precisely, I felt like myself again.
Personally, I think Malcolm McDowell would have been the perfect actor for the main character. That might have made it to one of my favorite films, but now it’s just a film that I find pretty damn good.
The film has an audio commentary: I looked into it for about 2 minutes and already got to see so many interesting details about the film – I wish I had the time to listen to it, so that I would have more to say about the film and comment on its style with a little more background knowledge. Maybe next time.
haha, I’m thinking that you should go for Zabriskie Point instead of L’avventura, if you are bored by L’eclisse xD
I just remember being really annoyed with the super-botched Kabel1-DVD of ZP, which didn’t even show the original 16:9 format.
There is a normal DVD, or so it seems. But on the other hand, I must admit that I’m not sure about the controversy about the film – sometimes, it seems to have gotten really, really bad reviews.
Actually I saw “L’Éclisse” and came to the conclusion that the fact that it was a borefest does not keep it up from being an amazingly well-done movie that had a huge impact on me. Everything Antonioni did with the film makes perfect sense, and it left me in an amazing state of despair, because I had the impression that I was just like those characters in the movie.
right, I saw the new DVD in town recently, though I wanted it to cost less!
Zabriskie Point is definitely my favorite film of his after L’eclisse (in fact I’d probably see them as equally great once I get a look at the new DVD), it’s certainly as beautifully filmed and much less austere. It also features two of his most amazing sequences, the “desert orgy” and the glorious detonation accompanied by Pink Floyd. The extreme inconsequence of plot can put you off, but, shot-by-shot, I can think of no other filmmaker’s work that is as gorgeously photographed,
I think I am a little allergic to Pink Floyd right now… but it’s okay. I was talking about the “desert orgy” when I mentioned those bad reviews, but actually I am kind of interested in it now!
Photography definitely is Antonioni’s greatest strength, I too think that the photography of “L’Éclisse” is absolutely amazing, and Blowup even more so.