Blow Out
Directed by: Brian DePalma
Written by: Brian DePalma
Starring: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz

While some might write off Brian DePalma as a poor man’s Alfred Hitchcock, I think his obsession with the Master of Suspense has informed his own style, resulting in a body of work that’s added to the language of cinema rather than simply repeating it. Blow Out not only indulges in the craft of storytelling but unravels it on-screen, using the power of cinema as a tool to solve a murder.

A loose remake of Michaelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, Blow Out stars John Travolta as a sound recordist working for an exploitation movie studio who’s logo — a bald eagle rested on a ribbon — is not coincidentally reminiscent of Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. The opening few minutes work as a tongue in cheek red herring; a film within a film that plays on the cinematic conventions that DePalma lovingly embraces — and elevates — in his own work. We’re given a steady-cam point of view — clearly a nod to John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ or Bob Clark’s ‘Black Christmas’ — of a faceless killer stalking a house of sorority girls. This faux horror film will play a large role in the story — particularly the climax — and works as a perfect backdrop to Blow Out’s ‘real’ murder mystery. When Travolta’s character is assigned to capture some fresh sound effects, he he heads to a park to record some nighttime ambience. It’s there that he witnesses a car swerve off a road, plugging into a lake. He takes action, diving into the water and pulling Sandy (Nancy Allen), out of the vehicle, leaving an already dead passenger behind. Eventually it’s revealed that Sandy is a prostitute and the body in the car is was the governor, currently campaigning for president. The plot definitely thickens.

DePalma indulges in all of his usual cinematic flourishes; split screen, split diopter photography, long single takes, and so on. There will always be the obvious comparisons to Hitchcock in DePalma’s work, but while others write off his process as copycat filmmaking, I think his love of movies and his own additions to the language of popular cinema is too fun to watch to take such a cynical perspective. Lots of great filmmakers borrow from ‘the masters’ and still manage to turn out works that expand upon an already dense tradition of on-screen storytelling. In fact, Blow Out might work as one of his best simply due to its self-aware commentary on the conventions of the thriller and its obsession with the craft of filmmaking, both on and off screen. DePalma provides an in-depth, procedural look at sound design and film editing as Travolta’s character uses the tools of his trade to attempt to solve the mystery. In one scene, he cuts a series of sequential stills from a magazine — showing the governor’s car plunging into the water — and proceeds to use an animation camera to photograph and combine the shots into a moving sequence. He then syncs his own audio — a process shown in detail — to the images and provides the finished film as evidence of a conspiracy. It’s an inspired sequence that moves the plot along while demonstrating the basic art of film editing.

DePalma tips his hat not only to the master of suspense, but also to his own low-budget, schlocky roots. It’s the same form of elevated genre filmmaking that Quentin Tarantino — a vocal DePalma fan — has adopted throughout his own filmography (possibly with greater success). It’s clear he had Blow Out on the mind when casting John Travolta in the part of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. Travolta’s performance in this film is full of the same self-control and confidence that revitalized his career in the early nineties. Unfortunately, it’s also a reminder of how far off the rails he’s gone since then. Nancy Allen is slightly over-the-top in the role of Sally — especially in comparison to a reserved Travolta — but is perfectly in line with the equally cartoony Dennis Franz and John Lithgow, who turns in a creepy performance as the “Liberty Bell Strangler”. Blow Out is a film that is continually aware of its own artifice, aiming to tell an entertaining story in a stylish way while celebrating the tradition of cinema.

The film is given a beautiful transfer with this special edition Criterion disc. Vilmos Zsigmond’s striking photography is naturally represented, successfully representing all of the colours spotted throughout the films palette. For a film so dependent upon craft, it’s certainly great seeing Blow Out presented with such clarity (yet still retaining the appropriate grittiness). The disc also boasts a small but solid collection of special features, the best of which is Brian DePalma’s 1967 feature ‘Murder a la Mod’, presented in full 1080p. On top of that, we get a brand new hour long interview with DePalma conducted by Noah Baumbach (Greenberg, The Squid and the Whale) along with interviews with Nancy Allen and Steadicam operator Garrett Brown. It’s a great collection of content that celebrates Blow Out as a piece of work that indulges in, and celebrates, the craft of filmmaking. — Jay C.

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