Blow-Up

This movie is reputed to have inspired the launch of over a thousand photographic careers - Department of Unemployment take note. It is a fairly accurate picture of London in the swinging sixties, and the photography sections are very accurate regarding the equipment used, although the photographers amoral behaviour is more in the imagination of the Italian film director. It is a mysterious yarn, and one is not quite sure what purpose the story serves, or whether it was just an excuse to portray '60s London. Either way, it is entertaining, and oddly one of those films that reveals fresh details each time it is viewed. The movie is certainly stylish and the acting reflects the attitude of the times. I was on the set for much of the time during the film's making and my own observations are revealed at hooton.photo It is one of those films that should viewed before you die.

Please don't listen to the other reviewer, he's obviously visually illiterate. Put quite Simply, BLOW UP is one of the most beautiful and compelling films of the 20th C. Antonioni is a master of colour and framing and the film takes us into a study of what we can call truth and the very subjective nature of our perception of the world. Not only that, It works as a cool and beautifully intelligent satire on the cult of fashion and the cult of the photographer/artist. The sound design in stunning, however this film MUST be seen at the cinema to be fully appreciated. Antonioni was a true master.

Heralded as one of the iconic British films of the sixties, I felt I had to finally give this film a try. Take a bowl of tedium, stir in several tablespoons of pretentiousness and you have an awful awful waste of good celluloid. Truly pointless. The only good thing about the film is that it launched David Hemmings.