Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981, USA)

Depending on who you speak to, Blow Out may be considered Brian De Palma’s crowning cinematic achievement. Essentially a re-imagining of Antonioni’s Blow Up for the post-Watergate era, De Palma’s original project - envisioned as a small independent movie - raised its scale of production when John Travolta (then the world’s hottest movie star) signed on enthusiastically to the project. Blow Out has all of the elements that make De Palma’s film De Palma’s - a gorgeous score from Pino Donaggio, heavy use of split screen, an autobiographical element (Philadelphia has featured so heavily in few other films), and a tragic finale, almost operatic in scope.

Blow Out was not a success upon its initial release (in many respects, the film feels like a 1970s film released in the 80s), but it has since found a devoted cult following. We first discovered the film when Quentin Tarantino championed it and listed it as a specific influence (obviously in more ways than one, as Tarantino would use Travolta and resurrect his career in 1994’s Pulp Fiction).

As someone once mentioned, few films have been as concerned with the actual process of filmmaking itself - there is something deeply self-reflexive about the film, as John Travolta’s character Jack Terry works through compiling audio and video footage to assemble a reconstruction of what he believes to be an assassination attempt. Though the technology here is primitive by today’s standards, Blow Out feels remarkably prescient in an era where anyone with an internet connection can be a sleuth in any criminal case. The atmosphere of paranoia and dread that pervades the film also feels current. We haven’t even mentioned the film’s finale or final line, which is guaranteed to pull the heartstrings of even the most cynical and jaded viewer. “It’s a good scream.”

9/10