Blow-Up (1966)

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Starring David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Peter Bowles, John Castle, Gillian Hills, Jane Birkin, Veruschka von Lehndorff.

A radical trend-setter and vibrant subculture relic of London’s Swinging Sixties granted eternal life for its provocatively mysterious nature and its elusive study on reality and meaninglessness. Indolent mod photographer Hemmings photographs secret lovers in the park one day, unaware until he later blows up the images that he may have either prevented a murder from taking place or bore witness to it. Not without its pretentious passages that redundantly amplify the ennui-soaked milieu, but Antonioni’s sense of motion, confusion, and colored symbolism is hypnotic enough to chase away almost all cases of restlessness. Although the styles and fashions are dated, the superficiality of society is not, and even if one struggles to understand, say, the thematic significance of a broken guitar neck, the paranoid confusion over truth and misunderstanding remains a potent cinematic instrument. Final sequence is a real treat. Music by Herbie Hancock, his first movie soundtrack. Rock band the Yardbirds appear and perform; model von Lehndorff is credited as playing herself.

84/100