The death knell of modernism was sounded, and it was sounded by one of the masters of modernism.
Modernism was destroyed by the hands of the people whom the masters of modernism sought to save.
Antonioni stood on the ruins without a lingering expression. The sexual lens creates tension, and the remorse froze to the ground, turning into a cry of despair. The film honorably chronicles its own death with standard modernist indifference.
He was helpless, perhaps adding some self-deprecation. His "Zoom" enlarges his own fantasy. fantasy? Greed?
How ironic that his fantasy, in the face of the real, illusory life of the general public, hesitated again.
Life is indeed an illusion. It's ugly, but not dead. It is ordered to dismantle ideals, to dismantle eternity, in order to seize the pleasure of being close at hand. This pleasure, it rejoices in the purity of killing, but worries about the self-proclaimed "killing".
In the past, the modernists killed the Quartet and made wedding clothes for the postmodern. The postmodern will eventually become the new modernity, and the necessary medicine is that pure power!
His purity may be mixed with arrogance, but arrogance will eventually make Chunliang more pure.
Pure goodness makes sadness even sadder.
Maybe now, he needs some encouragement from "gentleness", which is a variant of "pureness" that still retains the essence of "goodness". The reward is resilience and longevity.
Tonight, I am alone with the seedlings of He Ji fifty years ago. But if you want to build a monument without words, it will not be "what do I ask for if you don't know me." comment.
View more about Blow-Up reviews
