Blow-Up written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Winner of the 1967 Palme d’Or and a classic - 10 out of 10

 

Blow-Up written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Winner of the 1967 Palme d’Or and a classic

10 out of 10

 

 

This is a dazzling, mesmerizing motion picture, one of the best ever made, a statement that is still valid today, even if what we see on the screen may seem dated, the fashion, cars, haircuts are not the same, evidently, still, this has the magic that is eternal, it hypnotizes and it is ‘cool, after fifty six years…

 

We have aspects that have changed, the apparent misogynist, or maybe just sexist attitudes have not vanished, clearly, especially if we think places like Saudi Arabia, Zambia (this may be the place with some draconian regulations, and if it is not, well, mea culpa) but we live in a different era, it has to do with progress

The hero is Thomas aka excellent David Hemmings, a photographer who is so damn successful that he drives a Rolls Royce (or maybe it is a Bentley, but we are talking of the most expensive cars money can buy, especially back then) and he is not crowded exactly, but looked for by women who want to be his models

 

Some scenes describe, show the audience what happens in these artistic circles, how photographs are taken, the way models pose, the Creator - for we can assimilate the photographer with a small god, one who makes or breaks a celebrity, money spinner – takes a rather arrogant pose, abusive for our standards

A couple of girls come to the studio, almost begging to be noticed, but the Man says he ‘does not have time, he did not have time to have his appendix taken care of’, and the way he treats the other women, the ones working with me, where to begin, it would not be allowed today outside Riyadh, Lusaka – only joking!

 

‘Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ – so goes one of those silly proverbs, which by the way, are mostly dumb, off, inaccurate, let us just mention ‘all is fair in love and war’, which is so self-evidently stupid, and ‘appearances deceive’, debunked by a classic of psychology, by Malcolm Gladwell

In Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-malcolm-gladwell-quicklet-bundle-by.html Malcolm Gladwell looks at the Thin Slicing Effect and the way humans form opinions, make decisions, within seconds, a habit formed over millennia of evolution, the fight or flight response

Those who could not react in a flash, could not get food – well, vegetarians could take their time, probably, but hunters not really – and, just as important, would become the meal for a predator, if they spend precious seconds musing about the peril, and not running for their lives, the genes we have have been passed by the quick ones

 

The photographer has found his calling, which by the way is to be located by establishing three groups, one with the things you like, another with the ones you are good at, and the last will have the ones that have meaning for you, and when you look for the domain where they intersect, this is where your calling is

Harvard Professor Tal-Ben Shahar talks about this in his lectures, he has had the most popular courses  http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/positive-psychology-on-youtube-by.html in the history of that Ivy League institution, and you could find his wonderful advice, stories from Jewish tradition online…

 

When Thomas is in the park, he sees a couple kissing, playing somehow together, in a sort of foreplay maybe, or is just a cover for an attack – this could be some spoiler alert right here, something using hindsight, we see what follows and then look back and say, oh, maybe they were not really displaying affection

The protagonist takes pictures, and would say when confronted that this is what he does, it is his job, but the protest is that this ‘is a public space’, people are allowed to move about without someone interfering, so that would be just one of the questions, provocations, who is right, the man or the woman?

 

Vanessa Redgrave is now an iconic figure, not just an artist, but as far as I can remember (but could be dead wrong) vocal on various political issues (I may confound her with Glenda Jackson, recently deceased, and once a member of Parliament) and I must say, not one of my favorite artists, although I see how remarkable she has been

She is Jane in this film, and the one having the interaction in the park, after which she comes to challenge the photographer, asking for the photos, then continuing and getting closer to him…looking at the pictures he had taken in the park, the hero or anti-hero is trying to decipher what it is in there

 

And there is a dead man, when he travels back to ‘the scene of the crime’, indeed, there is a corpse there, but instead of calling the police, staying way clear of the body, he does none of those things, which we know are necessary, surely from watching so many movies with the details of detective work

You need a perimeter around the place, they can take DNA samples now - not in 1967, but still, it seems rather careless, albeit this is not really one of those thrillers, where we are focused on who dunnit, here there are other, probably more important happenings, this is also a ‘mood piece’, that drives you into the drama… http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/lavventura-by-michelangelo-antonioni.html

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”