Review of Blow-Up (1966) by Stuart K — 06 Feb 2015

The first English language film by Michelangelo Antonioni, who had made a splash with his Italian films such as L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961) and Red Desert (1964). For his next film, he went to Italian producer Carlo Ponti, then hot off producing Doctor Zhivago (1965), and he got Antonioni a contract at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Here, he was in the right place at the right time, and he captured the atmosphere going on. This tells the story of photographer Thomas (David Hemmings), who has had a successful career working in and around the pop scene of London at that time.

While out on a shoot at Maryon Park, he takes candid photos of two lovers, the woman Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) isn't happy about being photographed, and she later goes to Thomas's studio, demanding the negative.

He complies, but gives her a different negative. While looking though the photographs he took in the park, he finds he tooks a photo of a body in the grass and a potential killer in the nearby trees. He goes back to investigate, and he becomes obsessed with Jane.

.. It's a good thriller, set against the backdrop of Swinging London. Antonioni uses a lot of colour in the film, and it has an interesting plot, even if it is quite difficult to navigate at times.

It has a good score by Herbie Hancock, with a guest performance by the Yardbirds. This should have set Antonioni up for life. Then he did Zabriskie Point (1970)...