Rent Blow-Up (1966)

Sixties Arthouse. - Blow-Up review by Steve

Surreal enigma from the Italian modernist Michelangelo Antonioni, which is a candidate for the definitive film about sixties London. David Hemmings plays a trivial, but chic and successful fashion photographer who aspires to work in social realism. While shooting in a park he appears to capture a murder in the grainy background of his snapshots.

Or does he? He is an unreliable observer; everything he says in the film is arguably a lie. He soon loses interest and moves on to other diversions. The film is a riddle and each viewer will bring their own meaning. But there are recurrent Antonioni themes, of alienation, failure of communication and existential fatigue/apathy. 

Behind the vogue of swinging London, these are superficial and capricious people. We get to observe the scene, with a live performance by the Yardbirds, the Mary Quant style frocks, and the youth subcultures. Plus appearances by sixties ace-faces like Jane Birkin and Veruschka. But this is a satire not a celebration. And the scene is pretty dead.

Hemmings is on screen every minute, supported by cameo performances. And he's convincing as the indulged, exploitative antihero. The plot slowly meanders. The mystery of the possible killing is only a brief deviation which isn't resolved. It's a hallucinatory head-movie, but the director has a gift for making the obscure accessible.