LRB Screen returns to the Garden Cinema with a new series exploring visions of London created by non-British filmmakers: films in which the city is a key player, rather than a backdrop; in which its buildings, streets, parks and rivers cast a distinctive shadow over the drama; in which a fresh encounter makes the city unfamiliar and mysterious again.

London Reviewed begins in perhaps the only way it could, with Blow-Up, Antonioni’s classic countercultural take on (mis)perception and (un)reality in the swinging 1960s. Adapted from a short story by the cult Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar and with English dialogues by the great Marxist playwright Edward Bond, the film follows a fashion photographer (Hemmings, channelling David Bailey) who thinks he might have unintentionally photographed a murder. Moving from the heart of the zeitgeist to a South London park that proves pivotal, its richness in social, cultural and architectural detail makes it one of the defining works of the decade.

Introducing the film, and discussing it afterwards with regular host Gareth Evans, will be Miles Aldridge, the acclaimed fashion photographer and artist. Born two years before the film’s release, Aldridge grew up in the heart of the cultural scene it portrays and has since created his own highly distinctive photographic signature.

Cast:
David Hemmings, Sarah Miles, Vanessa Redgrave