SHIFT Film: "Blow-Up"
The dazzle and madness of ’60s London frames this psychological mystery from one of cinema’s great artists. Guest Curator, choreographer Mark Morris.
In 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni transplanted his existentialist ennui to the streets of swinging London for this international sensation, the Italian filmmaker’s first English-language feature. A countercultural masterpiece about the act of seeing and the art of image making, Blow-Up takes the form of a psychological mystery when a fashion photographer unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park. Antonioni’s meticulous aesthetic control and intoxicating color palette breathe life into every frame. The jazzy sounds of Herbie Hancock, a beautifully evasive performance by Vanessa Redgrave and a cameo by the Yardbirds make the film a transporting time capsule from a bygone era. Blow-Up is a seductive immersion into creative passion and a brilliant film by one of cinema’s greatest artists.
