Blow Up (1966)

Blow Up (NR) - Review

"Enhance... Enhance..."

Italian maestro Michelangelo Antonioni effortlessly directs this 60's crime mystery revolving around a woman's murder and what the lens of a camera shows us.  Visuals are key here, but the acting is also exceptional.  The mod culture of 1960s London is the backdrop, with a swinging fashion photographer as the hero.  A photograph he has taken reveals a mystery, and upon closer and closer inspection sinister forces are starting to close in upon his discovery.  The film is perfectly visualized, symbolic and philosophical, peering back from the trippy sixties where human perceptions were being perceived to be opening.  Of course who can say what is real and when looked at close enough what don't we see?  Blow Up's fiercely held reputation as both a horribly tense new wave suspense movie and hip surrealist art film are correct.  Here we have evidence of postmodernism need not be a hindrance to narrative and coherence and beauty.  When the camera lens is pointed at the subject and the shutter clicks with finality, it is up to our mind what the resulting image means.

10 Broken Guitars out of 10 (OUTSTANDING)