Martin Teller I watched Ebert's interview with Apted on the DVD, and I noticed that Ebert's love for the series seems almost entirely about the concept of the thing as a whole. He rarely mentions specific moments or elements of the individual films that excite him. Yes, it is a "noble" endeavor, and one that I'm glad exists, but really, the films on their own are mostly pretty dull. Here we have everything settling into middle age, and most of them quite comfortably. Good for them, but what's in it for me? I don't really need to hear about the mundane professions your kids have taken up, or that you love your grandchildren (I kind of figured you did). It's somewhat rewarding to know that these folk have found some degree of contentment, it just doesn't make for compelling filmmaking. I could read about it in a Wikipedia article or something and have the same results. The one really interesting thing going on in this installment is that it seems to get a bit more meta. Several of the subjects address their involvement in the film, some with a measure of resentment or frustration (and maybe I'm mistaken, but I think we hear more of Apted's voice as well). These were the most rewarding parts for me.

runamokprods The 'Up Series' represents one of the most fascinating and unusual uses of film in cinema history - a documentary life-long chronicle of the lives of 14 people starting at 7 years old, revisiting them every seven years through age 49 (so far). While I could quibble, wishing for a bit more depth here and there (especially with the women, where there's a bit too much emphasis on love and marriage at the expense of all else), it's really an astounding, moving, frightening and uplifting document. There's no way to watch this remarkable series of films without reflecting deeply on one's own life, and how you have changed (and stayed the same) over your own lifetime. While Michael Aped deserves every bit of credit he's received for this amazing piece of cultural anthropology, it's important to note this first film, 7 Up,was actually directed by Paul Almond, and Apted was a that point a researcher for the project.

Cosmoeticadotcom Yes, he did it again! One of the great filmic projects of the 20th Century, Michael Apted's The Up Series, makes its entrée into the new millennium with the seventh bravura installment of its documentary format. Although shown on British television over the last four decades, viewers in other parts of the world have usually had to see it on the big screen, in local arts and independent theaters. Late this year, the DVD of the 49 Up was released in America, just a few weeks after its theatrical release, and it's a worthwhile successor to earlier films. While the series' participants wax bitterly, on occasions, many wax philosophically, displaying one of the series' greatest virtues- showing that the average person is not necessarily as doltish as modern reality television would lead you to believe. Given an opportunity to reflect, average folks can stumble upon real wisdom, rather than the Lowest Common Denominator stupidity that American 'reality' shows like Survivor or Fear Factor highlight. Of course, neither of those shows is reality- they are merely staged gimmick shows. The Up Series is 'real reality,' and no, there won't be a new episode in a week's time to appease the speed addicted MTV mindset. It'll take seven long years before the next entry pulls into port.The series began as the brainchild of the Left Wing ITV television show World In Action, made by Granada Television, which in 1964 sought out typical school children from the lower and upper classes of English life. Back then, the class system in Merry Olde England was noteworthy, as the voice-over intoned, 'The executive and the shop steward of the year 2000 are seven years old,' but by the third installment, 21 Up- in 1978, the lives of these ordinary people took precedence over political posturing, and the series was firmly in control of co-producer Apted- director of The World Is Not Enough, Coal Miner's Daughter, and Gorillas In The Mist, who was merely an assistant on the original Seven Up. The motto of the series has always been the notion espoused by a Jesuit proverb: 'Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man.' That seems to have proved a durable- if not infallible, wisdom….Some viewers and critics feel that this should be the last episode. I disagree, for people like that are injecting a 'purpose' into the films, rather than extracting one out of them. This is often a problem with news coverage in any field. Centuries and eons from now, this series will be a Rosetta Stone- despite the immense tracking of our culture via printed media, films, radio, television, and the Internet, for it was the first one to focus on average people, whatever their backgrounds. These participants will become icons who are studied and debated long after most of their peers are dust; a fact which may explain their reluctance to appear in it, but not excuse it, for the nobler option is almost always to serve the betterment of all. Is a few minutes on screen glimpse into real reality that much of a loathsome burden?By 56 Up, it would not shock me if the first death occurs within the fourteen- I just get a sense of it- perhaps Lynn or Jackie, or perhaps some tragedy, so that sense makes each episode with all of them all the more meaningful. The series, as a whole, and this installment, shows that there is a great nobility in utility, which is best summed up by wisdom that Bruce imparts: 'When dreams go and the day to day living of ordinary life and family life takes over, I think we just sort of live without our dreams.' In what other medium does the offhanded poesy that too much fictive art misses come so vividly to life? Where else do people show off the best in themselves- an ability to cogitate, reason, empathize, and reflect, rather than the worst- their own petty envies and lusts?….The reason why the series touches so many others is precisely because they lack such things as artistic talent or a platform to be seen. If I can be so moved, merely by the memory of watching the earlier installments of this film, I have to believe that most of the participants- whom we all know and refer to by their first names, as they age and wise up a bit more, will see that they, too, have been touched by something greater than anything their lives, alone can signify. And the fact that their touching will last long beyond flesh on flesh is something anyone reading this review, now or in the far future, can be thankful for.

lorrock2002 I grew up in England, and saw the first documentary there. I emigrated to Canada at 18, and have seen the rest of the series here. It has been both an opportunity to see how England and the English have changed, as well as seeing "old friends" every seven years. I grew up in a Navy family,we were not wealthy, but because my father was a Naval Officer, we were considered upper middle class, so I rode horses, went to the Continent on Holiday and and attended boarding school from age 10. I also attended a 1 room schoolhouse and changed primary schools with alarming rapidity, so I met many kids just like all the ones on 7-UP, I could even understand Nick's Yorkshire accent! My favorite is also Bruce, but I love Tony, Neil and Symon, and can totally empathise with Suzy! Funny how so many of the kids had broken childhoods, but became wonderful parents themselves. I am looking forward to catching up with them at 56!