VIDEO: 42 Up
42 UP (1999)
My Rating: ***** (out of *****)
Director: Michael Apted
Editor: Kim Horton
My Review:
Who says you can never go home again? With the Up series (starting with Seven Up in 1964 and continuing with a new chapter every seven years since), British filmmaker Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Blink, Nell) gives us the almost unheard of – and absolutely delightful – experience of returning.
Back in 1964, Apted began interviewing fourteen English children from various racial, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds, when each child was seven years old. Every seven years, he returns to follow up and see how they are doing (28 Up, 35 Up, and 42 Up are each available on videocassette). What must be thousands upon thousands of hours of footage are poignantly and perfectly edited by Kim Horton and impeccably presented by Apted in what is arguably the best documentary ever made.
Apted comes from the perspective of the Jesuit maxim: “Give the child when he is seven, and I will give you the man.” Indeed, it is remarkable to witness the unfolding of these lives, so different in many ways, and in others uncannily similar. Seeing what changes and what stays the same as each period passes, as well as some of the surprising ways in which the lives of the subjects intertwine, is by turns exciting, depressing, hopeful, hilarious, heartbreaking, and sobering, sometimes all of these at once.
42 Up shows that we are, on many levels, bound by our childhood experiences, for better or worse. The film, however, does not maintain a morbid or hopeless outlook. We are not solely defined by our history. It shapes us, to be sure, but 42 Up (and all of the other Up films) loudly and triumphantly proclaims humanity as vibrant, fluid, and capable of growth.
By showing us these spectacularly diverse and extraordinarily ordinary human beings in the glorious and the mundane of their daily lives, Apted gives us 134 of the most hypnotic and meaningful minutes of film ever captured. 42 Up shows us who we are and who we can be. It is pure joy from start to finish.
My Rating: ***** (out of *****)
Director: Michael Apted
Editor: Kim Horton
My Review:
Who says you can never go home again? With the Up series (starting with Seven Up in 1964 and continuing with a new chapter every seven years since), British filmmaker Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Blink, Nell) gives us the almost unheard of – and absolutely delightful – experience of returning.
Back in 1964, Apted began interviewing fourteen English children from various racial, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds, when each child was seven years old. Every seven years, he returns to follow up and see how they are doing (28 Up, 35 Up, and 42 Up are each available on videocassette). What must be thousands upon thousands of hours of footage are poignantly and perfectly edited by Kim Horton and impeccably presented by Apted in what is arguably the best documentary ever made.
Apted comes from the perspective of the Jesuit maxim: “Give the child when he is seven, and I will give you the man.” Indeed, it is remarkable to witness the unfolding of these lives, so different in many ways, and in others uncannily similar. Seeing what changes and what stays the same as each period passes, as well as some of the surprising ways in which the lives of the subjects intertwine, is by turns exciting, depressing, hopeful, hilarious, heartbreaking, and sobering, sometimes all of these at once.
42 Up shows that we are, on many levels, bound by our childhood experiences, for better or worse. The film, however, does not maintain a morbid or hopeless outlook. We are not solely defined by our history. It shapes us, to be sure, but 42 Up (and all of the other Up films) loudly and triumphantly proclaims humanity as vibrant, fluid, and capable of growth.
By showing us these spectacularly diverse and extraordinarily ordinary human beings in the glorious and the mundane of their daily lives, Apted gives us 134 of the most hypnotic and meaningful minutes of film ever captured. 42 Up shows us who we are and who we can be. It is pure joy from start to finish.
Not Rated, but contains some mild thematic elements and brief profanity
posted by Drew Miller at
8:58 PM
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