REVIEW
63 Up
Stars: 4.0
Featuring Bruce Balden, Jackie Bassett, Symon Basterfield, Andrew Brackfield, John Brisby, Peter Davies, Susan Davis, Charles Furneaux, Nicholas Hitchon, Neil Hughes, Lynn Johnson, Paul Kligerman, Suzanne Lusk, and Tony Walker
Directed by Michael Apted
Rated: PG for coarse language and substance use
Runtime: 144 minutes
Playing from Saturday through Wednesday at Metro Cinema, 8712 109 St. in Edmonton metrocinema.org
In 1964, the longest-running film documentary franchise started on television with Seven Up! No, it’s not about the soft drink. It’s about looking at people in an intimate, compassionate way over the course of their lives with stops at every seven years. It’s unlike anything else you’ll ever see on the screen: very enjoyable yet still ultimately an incredible social document.
The Up series has followed 14 British people throughout their lives starting from when they were all seven-year-old children. Like clockwork, they get paid regular visits by a film crew to see how their lives have grown, adapted and changed.
Original director Paul Almond took inspiration from the Jesuit motto that states, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.”
We now arrive at 63 Up, the newest instalment. When was the last time you said, "I want to sit down and watch two and a half hours of a documentary about 14 people I don't know"? Maybe never, but maybe this will also convince you. It might even be enough to get you going back to the beginning to undertake the full Up experience.
It’s a very simple premise but man ... it makes for an unforgettable viewing experience. Roger Ebert once described the entire series as “the noblest project in cinema history.” That might be overstating it a bit, but I’ll forgive him his admiration. As far as I’m concerned, it’s pure delight.
In 2005, the entire anthology was at the top of the list of The 50 Greatest Documentaries, which includes some outstanding titles. Landing at #1, well, that’s saying something. It’s not always a comfortable endeavour – some of the subjects have expressed their dismay at the process and some of the documentarian’s questions – but this is the only project of its kind in world history that I’m aware of. I’m fascinated by it. Childhood dreams morph into adult concerns and compromises. Some are positive. Others not.
Granted, some of the British dialect spoken does make for a strong desire for subtitles. Pity, that.
