You can think of BLOW OUT as THE CONVERSATION and an Alan Pakula paranoia thriller filtered through De Palma's hyper-stylized sleaze.

John Travola gives one of the best performances of his career, and Nancy Allen and John Lithgow are more than capable co-stars. What stands out is the extraordinary editing, such as those moments where we watch Travolta's character, a sound engineer, piece together an accident, and attempt to attain the truth, from bits of film and stray sound.

What's…

The fact that it’s taken me almost two weeks to write a review for this movie should be evidence enough of how much it’s weighed on my mind.

I almost don’t know what to say. Words that come to mind when thinking about this movie are: stark, austere, claustrophobic, uncompromising, compassionate, angry, beautiful, bleak, righteous.

This is a film about a man in profound spiritual crisis, whose inner deterioration is reflected in the literal deterioration of the environment around him.…