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Blow-Up
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Blow-Up

1966
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
1h 51m
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Avg Percentile 67.69% from 3103 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(3103)
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Rated 13 Dec 2013
58
34th
I used the zoom feature on my tv to get a closer look at this movie and it revealed the exact same amount of aimless nonsense.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
85
73rd
I like it a lot -- more than I expected beforehand. I thought the "what is real?" angle worked very well. I was expecting there to be more time devoted to the murder plot, but in the end that wasn't really the most important part. It's also interesting to note the similarities between this and The Conversation, especially in how they both deal with the subjectivity of perception.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
77
60th
I have to admit, I don't know what to think. Not that I found the movie confusing, just that my reaction to it is very lukewarm. I found it intriguing, engaging, very well photographed, and unique. I would even say I liked it. And yet... I don't like it a lot.
Rated 11 Aug 2009
96
98th
A borderline-perfect piece that works under the surface. In its opening scenes, all the themes are built perfectly--voyeurism, deceptiveness of appearance, excess, perception of reality...and throughout the rest of the film, the protagonist's actions mirror ours as we dissect and attempt to throw ourself into this bizarre circumstance. One of the rare times when the medium of film matches perfectly with the subject it's capturing.
Rated 30 Jan 2013
56
32nd
A few interesting scenes/moments for sure, but time has not been kind to this slow-moving, arty affair. Or maybe it's just that I can't seem to care for rude, misogynistic and arrogant main characters that wander around for 1,5 hours while waiting for anything to happen.
Rated 10 Jan 2009
100
98th
A landmark of a camerawork. Quietly paranoid and sterilized, a triumph for the eyes and the ears.
Rated 16 Feb 2009
4
74th
My first Antonioni. On the surface it's pretty simple, but this is a film of subtleties. It's very cerebral, and though I think the whole reality/perspective theme has been done better, this movie has immense style that kept me hooked. The cinematography is really outstanding.
Rated 26 Jan 2010
88
78th
Pretentious, yet absorbing. Too cold to like, but too stylish and intriguing to ignore.
Rated 01 Mar 2020
58
34th
Went out of my wheelhouse again for this one, hear so much about it I figured I ought to do my duty and see it. And after it's over I feel I've completed a duty without epiphany or anything, maybe that's the point? Anyway, I didn't get it. It sure is fun to look at and David Hemmings is super slick as the sardonic Brit, but I just can't relate to Antonioni's expression of listlessness. Give me a movie about party mimes, let me check that out, they were some fun-lovin dudes.
Rated 19 Feb 2007
95
99th
A visual and cerebral masterpiece. Simple to understand but complicated and fascinating to truly appreciate this work of art.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
45
34th
Admittedly it is a very long time since I saw this movie, but, at the time I did see it, its significance eluded me, and I haven’t really felt myself drawn back to it, even after subsequently (and finally) having viewed, and to a certain extent appreciated, the other works of Antonioni that are frequently considered to be masterpieces.
Rated 15 Dec 2008
100
99th
Modernity.
Rated 24 Apr 2009
63
26th
Good story without a meaning > meaning without a good story.
Rated 28 Jun 2009
80
58th
Again Antonioni captures the detachment and boredom that seems to characterize modern society. Through the character of the photographer, he shows us a man removed from life, distant in his interactions with others, captivated and engaged only in those brief moments when the light is just right or a spark flies in a modeling session. The murder plot works well as a foil to illustrate his apathy about life, and while he might seem shaken for a moment, apathy eventually envelops him once more.
Rated 11 Aug 2009
86
88th
Refuses to stay with the narrative conflict and wanders more than I expected, but in hindsight this is for the better, and allows an ending that doesn't follow the typical cliches of these kinds of stories. The cinematography is amazing, which is fully expected for a film that centers on photography.
Rated 03 Jan 2010
82
85th
The take on reality is one part of the movie, but in retrospect what really makes this movie stand out is the way it subtly captures the actual emptiness of the 60's.
Rated 30 Jul 2010
25
6th
"...then I went to see an experimental film where NOTHING happens for two hours" - Bernard Black
Rated 14 Sep 2010
92
95th
Beautifully photographed, with Hemmings very good as a total asshole. I loved the style of it - a presumably accurate depiction of Swinging London, which I still say is meant to somewhat mock the culture. It's interesting how when the murder plot shows up we expect it to go somewhere even though it's been like an hour and nothing else has so far, but of course the point is what it stirs up in Thomas rather than solving a mystery. A lot of fun.
Rated 06 Oct 2010
95
95th
A movie about perception. Very cerebral. A treat for the eyes and ears. Wreaks of the '60s emptiness. Examines the dehumanization that some photographers execute when trying to get a good shot. Hell YES: This is my kinda movie.
Rated 02 Nov 2010
10
98th
one of the best movies ever made without a doubt, antonioni perfectly matches a co-relation between reality and ilussion and the result is of course breathtaking and possisional between many similitudes as real life situations could get, how a photoghraper manages to see life between his art and how he manages to comprehend it is stunning; visually beautiful and in terms of meaningful state you get comprehend the concept of loneliness and how much fissures can cause in your daily life.
Rated 18 Mar 2011
70
39th
Can't bring myself to like this.
Rated 20 Jan 2012
60
43rd
Most of the film is taken up by the photographer doing all sorts of random things. The things he does aren't necessarily strange in themselves, but they didn't seem to have any relevance. It was quite risque, in terms of sex and drugs. I did like the way it portrayed the 60s in London. I don't think I really 'got' it though. It might be some sort of masterpiece, but I didn't connect with it. The cameos of Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were pretty awesome though.
Rated 11 Mar 2013
20
8th
This movie has almost nothing to say. The plot is all over the place. A few decent topless scenes. A photographer captures a couple in the park. After he blows up the pictures, he discovers a murder. But all of the evidence is stolen, including the body. By the ending it just felt stupid and pointless.
Rated 26 Jan 2014
55
25th
Well made and all of that. Not my cup of tea.
Rated 29 Jul 2014
90
93rd
The modernist movement may have been a short lived rebellion against classical narrative structure, but for me it was a wonderful experiment, of which 'Blow-Up' remains the epitome. Like shapes of clouds drifting across a summer sky, plots form and disintegrate in the effortless air of the swinging Sixties. Centered around a possible murder mystery, perhaps attempting an astute portrait of life itself, no film to my recollection has ever achieved to be so fascinatingly full of emptiness.
Rated 01 Sep 2015
80
73rd
The moment where Hemmings discovers the 'murder', is a masterful bit of editing that is worth your time alone. The atmosphere of '60s London and the decadence of its inhabitants lead to some absurd situations, which has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I wasn't as interested in the main characters' enigmatic state of being as I should have been, but as it is my first Antonioni-film, I found it admirable enough to delve into his other work.
Rated 22 Mar 2016
34
0th
A big "whatever." The body's gone? Whatever. I'll just watch the world's loudest mimes play some mime tennis. I enjoyed the music I guess.
Rated 14 Jun 2018
71
34th
Certainly a well-composed film (any movie about photography should be) but it threw me off with its pacing. I'm sure a lot of the deviations in story made sense at the time and further analyzing the main character's behavior can explain some of them, but on that note it was really hard for me to become invested in this guy; the longer I watched the more I came to hate him. Things only get great once he starts looking deeper into the photos. Someone's gonna have to explain that ending to me.
Rated 29 Aug 2019
9
90th
(2nd viewing) People believe whatever they want to believe, no matter how far removed from reality self-delusion can carry them. Having finally rewatched Blow-Up after more than 10 years, I was surprised and pleased to have found myself as challenged by its form as I was by its content, told here through minimalistic visual language, some pretty sweet editing and a final scene that brilliantly ties together the plot and characterization to a great end.
Rated 25 Jul 2020
80
55th
Frankly, I think prefer both the Coppola (The Conversation) and DePalma (Blow Out) that were inspired by it. Maybe it's my personal distaste for the whole British 'mod' culture, but the film comes across as garish and shallow, which seems to be the point, but I don't know if you get credit for achieving that goal. It's certainly good, just not the all time great it's reputation would suggest.
Rated 14 Dec 2006
65
19th
Looking forward to the second session with audio commentary from the film scholar. Maybe then more points come from me. For now it's just another quite nice movie.
Rated 16 Sep 2007
40
11th
I normally hate people who use words like this in a review...but this is Pretentious, arthouse garbage that thinks it's cool based only on the fact that it is different.
Rated 29 Sep 2007
78
88th
It's interesting to compare this to Antonioni's Italian-language Monica Vitti movies. L'avventura and L'Eclisse are richer and more warm-blooded, but Blowup is a bit easier to stomach and Antonioni's singular sense of consequentiality is here, and some awesome scenes (especially the ending). Anyway, the synposes completely misrepresent this movie, drawing one's attention to its most superficial elements. You can't really summarize Blowup because its impact comes from its littlest features.
Rated 31 Mar 2008
82
55th
i don't know why, but it just didn't get me. i mean, it is obviously a very good film - from hancock to the mimes and this obscure "what happens here?"-element, but (much like Don't Look Now by Roeg, btw) i kind of couldn't relate to it.
Rated 15 May 2008
30
9th
Stylish, but an intolerable bore.
Rated 12 Jul 2008
63
18th
Me: "It didn't really do anything for me" arty studio-mate: "I liked the fashion" Take from that what you will
Rated 05 Aug 2008
72
44th
This film is pretty boring, and if it's supposed to be some artistic comment on the role of the viewer, then Godard does that in a much more interesting way. It is filmed quite nicely though.
Rated 08 Sep 2008
6
95th
Mystery is taken to a whole new level in this strange, strange tale. The pace of the narrative & cinematography is of a variety I don't think I've ever experienced and it sells this completely. Along with the interesting musical selection and strong lead, this movie just never went wrong.
Rated 08 Jan 2010
90
84th
Cortázar!
Rated 24 Apr 2010
70
68th
lol, the more I think back on this film (which bored me a lot when I saw it) to more I think it actually was really good. needs a re-watch to confirm.
Rated 08 Oct 2010
99
78th
Mesmerizing voyage into a strange, surreal, alien film-scape.
Rated 18 Oct 2010
41
13th
Ok, I don't know what happened, but this film about a photographer who thinks he photographed a murder scene, was sloooooow. There were certainly some good moments, but there were also a lot of scenes that seemed completely out of place, and I really had to fight to keep my eyes open...
Rated 23 Oct 2010
15
1st
The very definition of "pretentious" - a smug, shallow and self indulgent piece that acts like it has great depth and importance. Okay, I'll admit I probably didn't quite "get" it - but there are other films that, while I don't fully understand, I can still enjoy. No, it's not the lack of meaning (which, I suppose, WAS the point) that I can't stand; it's the film's overwhelming arrogance and how it attempts to taunt viewers into looking for meaning where there simply is none.
Rated 27 Nov 2010
93
96th
A curious oddity into man's indifference to violence and indirect fascination in narcissism, this really puts the 60s counter-culture into a time-capsule, but thematically it feels ahead of it's time.
Rated 28 Apr 2011
75
83rd
Ebert is spot-on when he says: "Whether there was a murder isn't the point. The film is about a character mired in ennui and distaste." Damn right! That's what's crushing about the whole thing -- he needs a fucking murder (real or not) to pull him out of that funk, and it only grasps him for a short while.
Rated 25 Mar 2012
80
66th
Strong acting from Hemmings and an intriguing plot, but was very slow-moving at time and probably could've been half as long as it was. It felt like Antonioni was more interested in being artsy than telling a robust story.
Rated 03 Apr 2012
65
42nd
Visually and thematically intriguing but only sporadically engrossing and a little too much on the pretentious side, "Blow Up" is, for the most part, pleasantly odd and pleasantly boring. The first half is intriguing enough but sluggishly paced. The second half does a fantastic job of generating suspense and, even if the central mystery leads nowhere (or, more specifically, to a surreal tennis sequence), there are a few undeniably gripping scenes to be found here.
Rated 07 Jul 2012
80
75th
Weird.. in fact not 'A GREAT MOVIE' after all.
Rated 18 Aug 2012
34
26th
Well that was a big bunch of bullshit.
Rated 14 Jun 2013
80
89th
quite a nice experience. kept growing throughout the movie. its a very strange type of random yet sense-making, almost polanski-esque story that unfolds. the ending scene was absolutely mesmerizing.
Rated 31 Jul 2013
96
99th
I'm only doing my job. Some people are bullfighters, some people are politicians. I'm a photographer.
Rated 22 Nov 2013
5
70th
a very nice film about a heartless photographer who takes superficial photos of all sorts of things, including people suffering, until he becomes slightly perturbed when he accidentally witnesses a murder through his lens. criticism could be charged that it doesn't add up to much, because it is stripped down to a rather extreme degree, but in the end it's quietly intriguing. rewatch on 17/07/2014, same opinion essentially. still adore the ending.
Rated 11 Jan 2014
80
44th
I liked that the story and main character kept getting distracted, and sometimes for really silly reasons, but I hated those mimes and the ending was annoying. It was cool that it's usually tagged as a thriller or mystery, but there's a lot of the time where the movie is doing nothing of that sort but still feeling cohesive no matter how far it stretches.
Rated 27 Aug 2014
30
2nd
As far as the hidden man in the pic was concerned, from the first time he took the picture i saw a body lying in that scene so the sudden appearance of dead man in picture was not something of a surprise.Apart from picturesque scenes there was nothing in the movie.It seemed more like a fantasy rather than any real depiction.
Rated 26 Aug 2015
60
27th
Is Blowup a historical representation of the Mod scene? A satirical criticism? The answer matters less than anything that happens in this film. The Mod vanities are quickly redundant, very weak, and fail to make this supposedly attractive pull of no responsibility empathizable. And yet for all of this empty hedonism, 10 minutes focused on a Yardbirds cameo shows Antonioni is clearly in love with it. Conveying lifelessness doesn't mean your film has to be lifeless. Every theme's a contradiction.
Rated 21 Feb 2016
76
82nd
postmodernism, man without truth, lost - here in a world of images, its disconnection leading to fascination with projected underworlds in the red room; violence, suffering and life happen outside the perspective of self, aren't owned up to, are a mere fascination of a bewildered and empty core.
Rated 08 Apr 2017
75
84th
Antonioni is one of the all time greats, but Blow Up has always been overrated. Its significance as a cultural artifact overshadows its artistic merits which, will not inconsiderable, fail to scale the heights of his best Italian films. It's watered down Antonioni for mass consumption whose unlikely success was largely a matter of timing. Its epistemological inquiry disguised as murder mystery is clever though and it's an effective time capsule of London in the 1960's.
Rated 21 Mar 2018
65
45th
The film invites meditation on the nature of reality for an artist amid the backdrop of the counterculture. The dedicated may find meaning in this film that leaves plenty of doors open. I for one was not interested in this party.
Rated 27 May 2018
60
35th
Loved the music. Really wondered if the movie was going anywhere for the longest time; it briefly got interesting, but then seemed to lose focus again. Was ready to rack this up as another pretentious film but then the thought of "what if none of that really happened" hit me and I could just briefly see its greatness, even if I didn't enjoy it all that much.
Rated 23 Jun 2020
93
94th
Reality breaks out of the frame and then all your negatives belong to it.
Rated 10 Jan 2023
15
1st
I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that this is a waste of time. Maybe I'm getting impatient but I really have no time anymore for movies like these. You can say that it's shot well, and it is, but so what? Plenty of movies are shot well and offer something for the viewer to invest in. This has uninteresting characters saying uninteresting things, and it meanders.
Rated 11 Jan 2023
74
66th
I quite like Antonioni's ellusive dreamy realities, and this is another.
Rated 01 Mar 2007
65
73rd
Good film.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
75
55th
Classic arthouse cinema that remains thrilling, compelling and prescient.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
88
79th
Honestly, what I remember most about this movie - it's the first movie I saw with full frontal nudity and it's a good movie.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
84
90th
Enigmatic and haunting, I think this is the best example of Antonioni's fascination with mystery and deception. It's slow, to be sure, but it's also vibrant and full of color, and like every Antonioni film it's wonderfully shot. The central mystery remains provocative whether the film stays focused on the main path or digresses down some alluring alley.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
15
6th
null
Rated 27 Dec 2007
90
89th
The film has a great idea for a plot and it is executed quite well. The only problem with the film is that it drags in parts and is deliberately paced, taxing the viewer's patience.
Rated 24 Jan 2008
95
99th
Not really a film, more of a photo book, but what a photo book.
Rated 01 Mar 2008
90
84th
# 206
Rated 22 Jul 2008
88
90th
Distinctive, contemplative and visually captivating examination of perception and reality. I'm not sure just how much I liked it, but I know I did as it was full of interesting little moments that somehow meshed together really well.
Rated 16 Nov 2008
7
68th
I think my expectations were too high. It has some classic scenes and one of the coolest endings ever but in comparison to some of Antonioni's other movies it's just not as great.
Rated 19 Dec 2008
90
80th
197
Rated 07 Feb 2009
83
87th
With Antonioni, it's easy to feel like something could have been cut out. The first half could be more captivating but the second one handles the film's thematics really nicely.
Rated 11 Mar 2009
75
63rd
It's been so long since I saw this that I don't feel confident giving it a higher rating. But I remember a real sense of excitement at having just watched something really fresh, something unlike anything I'd ever seen before.
Rated 05 Apr 2009
15
23rd
Good enough to look at but it made me sleep.
Rated 09 Jun 2009
96
65th
Wonderfully filmed, no idea what was going on half the time but I suppose you'll need to see a few more times to figure that out.
Rated 13 Jan 2010
90
80th
192
Rated 20 Jan 2010
89
84th
I started to roll my eyes at the constant excursions into the hipster culture of the 60s (Hey look! The Yardbirds!), until I realized that was the point. It takes a murder to inspire anything resembling emotion or a moral compass from a protagonist almost too deeply embedded in that lifestyle to care about much of anything. The photo-developing scene is masterful.
Rated 17 Feb 2010
80
81st
watched: 2010, 2018
Rated 12 Jul 2010
68
23rd
Back in its day, it may have been seen as challenging, thought-provoking and clever. However, taken out of its 60's context we see a great film trying to get out: an unfinished pretentious yawn with some genuine moments of brilliance.
Rated 21 Sep 2010
91
92nd
Beautiful in every possible way, definitely it deserves all the acclaim it gets. A rumination on the concept of context, it is full of images way better than its main character takes. It is special in the way of how it keeps the focus on the main character all the time while inroducing new elements; it seemed like life washed off him with each step he took. It was a stroke of genius when all the seemingly redundant scenes were turned into a statement towards the end.
Rated 02 Oct 2010
30
11th
hard to watch, even harder to rate
Rated 05 Dec 2010
40
97th
"Blowup daringly suggests that an image without politics isn't an image at all." - Ed Gonzalez
Rated 29 Dec 2010
79
40th
All style which therefore becomes the substance, this film doesn't really do much and even the somewhat marginal murder plot doesn't really impact in any way on the posing and posturing. This is, of course, the whole point but it does ultimatley come across as pretty but vacuous.
Rated 04 Jan 2011
65
40th
What - the emporer is not wearing any clothes!
Rated 26 Jan 2011
50
23rd
nicely done period piece, but not that engaging mentally, aesthetically or emotionally
Rated 08 Jun 2011
83
47th
Antonioni was a genius. This is not one of my top favourites, but it's still beautiful and a superb depiction of the period.
Rated 16 Jul 2011
95
70th
Partial to Anonioni movies, great.
Rated 23 Jul 2011
99
77th
Creative, visual, and elegant masterpiece.
Rated 23 Aug 2011
90
80th
Easily the weakest of Antonioni's 60s films. It doesn't leave me with the same emotional devastation as the previous movies, and I think it's too busy trying to emulate the swinging 60s to do a good job actually criticizing them. But it also feels like Antonioni's most personal work, portraying an artist who is, in many ways, alienated from his own work and the world that he captures within it. The ending is quite brilliant. (two times)
Rated 24 Aug 2011
100
97th
Brilliant masterpiece, original, and bright.
Rated 29 Aug 2011
70
69th
The ending is so wonderful. Green is my favorite color now.
Rated 14 Sep 2011
59
34th
Just didn't work for me at all. There are a lot of great individual scenes, but it just doesn't add up to a great film to me. Maybe I'll enjoy it more if I watch it again sometime.
Rated 30 Nov 2011
90
80th
#207
Rated 17 Dec 2011
73
64th
It purses something that is better left unknown, and doesn't necessarily come to knowledge while watching it. I liked it when I was 16, and hated it when I was 18, and I think I've come to terms with it now. Ugh.
Rated 11 Jan 2012
1
0th
A culmination of brilliant subtext and utterly banal filmmaking. When the point you're trying to make revolves around a creep in a strange reverie, is there merit to a film about an incredibly unlikable protagonist and a near absence of plot? Blow-Up is a film school movie, plenty to talk about, and yet, why can't I stop yawning? Score is not a grade.
Rated 04 Mar 2012
93
98th
Pera Müzesi: Seneler önce arızalı bir dvd'den izlemiştim. Beğenmiştim ama tam tatmin olmamıştım. Bugün, daha olgun bir sinema izleyicisi olarak perdede gördüğüm bir başyapıttı.
Rated 23 Apr 2012
81
65th
I don't think this is the masterpiece that so many people have proclaimed it to be, but it certainly is a fantastic film. The lead performance from David Hemmings is superb and the final scene is very memorable. Essential viewing for movie buffs.
Rated 21 May 2012
77
74th
A slow, but unique and at times haunting experience. I need to rewatch this in a more comfortable chair.

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