60’s Blow up

‘Blow up’, the 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, is a film about a photographer, played by David Hemmings. Somehow I’ve escaped seeing it until now. It reminded me of Meirelles’ ‘City of God’, also about a photographer, although I remember that being much more photographic, with the film showing the stills captured by the young photographer .

Set in 60’s swinging London, ‘Blow up’ has a strong period feel; with soot-blackened Victorian streets surrendering to emergent tower blocks, the colour and abstract design of 60’s fashion & the cultural shift of the sexual revolution. On release the film was controversial, with its portrayal of drug use and nudity, aspects which now seem unremarkable. Only the background details date the film, the loft living & the accompanying life style seem to belong to a later time.

This was Antonioni’s first English language film & yet he does not use much dialogue or even sound in the case of the closing tennis mime. As well as being visually stimulating, there is an element of mystery because the film is in part a thriller. The photographer witnesses a killing in photographing the unlikely lovers in the park. He captures it on film, something that is revealed in the ‘blow up’ of the film’s title.

I love ’60’s films. I find them compelling because the street scenes, the fashions & the details are familiar reminders of my childhood world. Also because they depict an adult world that I am just too young to have been part of but rather wish I had.