56 Up

Michael Apted has had a long and successful career as a director. His credits have included such upper-middle-brow works as GORILLAS IN THE MIST and ENIGMA, and such popular works as a Bond movie and COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER. His most fascinating work has been on 1963's 7 UP, for which he was a researcher, and its sequels. Every seven years since the original show, Apted has interviewed and directed the same collection of ordinary Britons from all backgrounds.

Partly a survey of contemporary British life, partly a work of sociology, but mostly an album of snapshots, they offer the viewer a fascinating look at how lives diverge and snake around each other: an upper class boy whose life has followed the expectations he had at seven. A farm boy who became a nuclear physicist; girls who grew up to be mothers and grandmothers and are now dealing with death. I have been following this since they were twenty-one, and have looked at all of them on DVD. Everyone has a story, unique and commonplace at the same time, some happy, some sad, some mixed.

The eighth in the series has finally made its appearance in the US on the movie screen, and I don't know how to describe it to you. All I know is that it is utterly fascinating, both as a portrait of British society and of individuals trying to cope with sporadic celebrity. I don't know how much longer Mr. Apted will be able to continue to do these shows -- he is 72 himself -- but I will continue to look at them as long as he and his collection of subjects continue to make them and I urge you to take a look.

56 Up - hard to believe. I've watched 3 or 4 of these over my 53 years, and each one becomes harder for me to watch as I get older. I was suddenly a little scared when the titles for this one started; I almost walked out of the theater. What has become of this group of kids that director Apted has been following since he was 22 years old? What new tragedies had befallen them? Whatever became of the homeless guy? Would any of them finally blow up at Apted on-camera?

Probably the most unnerving thing for me was that the film would just be unbearably poignant. It seems almost god-like to be able to see how a group of 14 people's lives have progressed over a 49-year period. (Yet, as one of the men complains, viewers can't possibly know these people, even though many in Britain presume to (since this was shown on TV there, many British people have watched all 8 films).

Fortunately, however, the film isn't overly sentimental or maudlin. Still, the film is very touching and can't help but make you think about your own life and trials, what advantages you may or may not have had compared to these people, and how you would have fared given their circumstances.

One of the sadder aspects of these films is to see how life seems to have "beaten down" so many of these people. Some of the kids with bright, shiny eyes who seemed to have so much energy and hope now seem to be dejected and defeated adults. Yet this isn't true for all of them - some of the reserved, quiet kids turned out to be reserved, quiet adults. And it's not all sad - there are some good laughs and some inspiring successes. And two subjects who had dropped out returned for this segment - one to promote his band!

There are plenty of clips from earlier segments, so you don't need to rent any of the earlier ones, but I'd recommend it. You get a more profound sense of the flow of their lives by seeing at least one other one. But whatever you do, see this one.

Peter is back! (He hasn't appeared since 28 Up) I know he's here in some large part to promote his band, but I'd rather have something like that where it's more creative and artistic than when John appeared in 35 just to promote his wife's charity (gosh that felt like the closest this series got to a minor scandal haha). The other great surprise here is Suzanne and Nick together (not romantically but still!) That was really wonderful to see them come together for this, and such lively and candid conversation.

Perhaps it can't be helped by the time you get to the eighth of these films, but there is so much Archival footage by this point from the previous entries that it probably does weigh the new scenes by like 40/60. That is a fairly minor complaint though given the scope of how life's changes are now about the next generations and the younger subjects do a lot to emphasize what is the same/different about the men and women who are still taking part in this (and all but like one or two are still here).

I'm also struck by something Michael Apted said to Roger Ebert in an interview back in 2006 around the time of 49 Up, which is that politics, or just points of view when it comes to how life itself and relationships have political dimensions, come out in the choices that are made about what to do with a life, financially speaking and also with a life in work or retirement (or in Jackie's case on disability).

The financial crash of 2008 also still hangs over at least a couple of the participants, and there is a comment (though think about how much Apted chose to show or leave out) about how far to the right the country has gone in the years since the 60s and 70s and you can see how a framework that keeps people working, keeps people in a system (or who are still doing manual labor like Symon) and then those who can break free of those systems make this really engaging. Even Andrew talking about global warming, though what's great is that this doesn't come with Apted pushing some agenda or something. The reality of what everyone is dealing with speaks for itself (and there's a revelation about John that... how did we not know this till now?! Dead parent!)

What's so special about these films is how much Apted has direct and simple questions that have to do with what being 56 is like, and in the scope of the series up until this point and how the personal and larger macro sense of what this series has meant is in a deeper philosophical sense. 56 Up isn't quite my favorite entry in the Ups, but that's more of a personal quibble (I also kind of wish Apted had kept to the sort of structure of who he was presenting since he stuck to showing like Tony first and Neil last and now it's sort of reversed for seemingly no good reason), but it need not matter much when the interviews are still so revealing and frank and Apted keep it being this great thoughtful gift for the audience intact.

My reaction to Peter, in other words, seems like I am reacting to a return of a comic book character in a Marvel movie, but that's the level of intimate connection that the series has done so well.

I saw this documentary spread out over three episodes on SBS TV over here. Perhaps it is the new medium which makes me think that this latest installment is the best in the series. Somehow it seems more lucid and to the point. Given that my memory of the cinema released earlier installments of this series isn't fresh, I'll just have to take on trust that this superiority in quality is real and not imagined. It's my impression that the organisation of these subjects' stories is more logically presented in any case. It just coheres better.

Being the 8th instalment in this series, you have to wonder if the 'experiment' has run its course...it must surely have 'proven' what it set out to achieve...to determine how class effects people's life chances in England. These subjects are now 56 years old (obviously) and we already know how their life unfolded...many movies ago. The director of this series, Michael Apted, is also getting on in years and you have to wonder if he will be around in another seven years to do another one of these documentaries...or if his health will be sufficient.

Each episode I saw of 56 Up on SBS had 3 or 4 subjects the featured people of that episode (I saw this documentary late last year, so it's not fresh in my memory...going on notes here). I did in fact wonder whether I had missed a previous movie in this series (which I'm not sure is the case) because at least one of the subjects did not ring a bell for me (looking at the Wikipedia entry for the "56 Up", I think that that may in fact have been Peter). However, the series is notorious for various subjects not turning up in a later movie, in seven years time (some subjects I think have never reappeared after 14 Up). If there were subjects from 7 Up missing, they were not mentioned, unfortunately (a mention of their last appearance and the reason/s given for them refusing to participate in future documentaries would have been good). Since each new documentary often recaps the subject's appearance in some/all previous "Up" documentaries, it's not strictly necessary to watch them all in order...but it might be nice to check out where it all began, "7 Up" (the concept for the series being the old Jesuit saying "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man". The idea being that these formative first seven years will determine the adult).

Some things which interested me:

* If there was any reason to have another instalment in this series, for me it would be to find out how Jackie fares...in 56 Up she has rheumatoid arthritis and gets dropped from a social security benefit on the basis that she can still work. Like a soap opera, I want to know "What happens to her?". In this documentary she is relying on financial assistance from her son, I think.

* Director/interviewer Michael Apted is more the centre of attention in this episode at times...he wonders aloud to Tony if he (Tony) is racist. Tony doesn't like that one bit!

* John, a barrister, makes a good point about the series portraying his success as an inevitable part of his background (i.e. class) but he does make a good point about how fragile his background was and how his life could have crashed around him had it not been for his mother's perseverance. Such contextual information was not presented in the earlier documentaries, which suggests that the series was ignoring counter-factual evidence to its premise that class determines life outcomes.

* Sue was an interesting case. By Australian standards, her rise to being an administrator at a university would suggest social mobility. She has working class roots, I think. The way that Sue describes it, she is not doing so well. I'm curious as to whether this is indicative of the squeeze on the middle class these last few years or merely her spending habits. I'm pretty sure that someone in her position over here would be considered middle class, at least...upper middle class, in fact. I'm not suggesting that she is a spendthrift...I have no idea...just wondering if it is a possibility though...as in she thinks she is poor because she is a consumerist.

* Suzy is also interesting in this documentary, from memory. I think it is her who tells Apted that she feels a certain perverse sense of loyalty to the series...like it's a potboiler, but she feels a sense of duty to it, or something like that. In other words, she doesn't feel as if the "Up" series is some sort of important social documentary.

* The "Up" series has a musical sting (very dramatic brass riff) which reminds me of the Australian TV police drama "Homicide".

* Just btb, I was curious about a scene they included from "7 Up"...I think it involved Bruce...at the party, I think, or maybe the playground...it almost looks like he takes out another boy's eye (almost!)...or perhaps he was the victim. Looked dangerous in any case!

* I wasn't sure if all of Jackie's friends from 7 Up were in this documentary and I suspect that the more casual boy who was friends with John and his fellow 'posh' subjects was missing from this latest instalment too.

* Peter's return seems to be merely to promote his band! Apparently they are quite successful in their own way in England. It's this guy who I don't think I knew who the Hell he was!

Personally, I would strongly suggest watching the films in order. While "56 Up" does provide some recaps, the cumulative effect of the series is built by watching each age in depth.

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 56 (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), and by nature the later episodes sometimes have to speed through more than would be ideal,since they have to both catch the audience back up as well as moving the stories forward, no matter. 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 the first film, 7 Up, was actually directed by Paul Almond, and Apted was a that point a researcher for the project.

This new episode is as excellent as it's predecessors, revealing more surprising twists in turns as our group heads towards the end of mid-life, and stare into the realities of old age. Some old friends re-appear, some have continued in directions they had been going in, and some have changed course yet again.

One thing that's interesting, and more present in this episode than earlier ones are some of the subjects questioning the objectivity and 'reality' of the series. There are interesting cases made that what we, the audience, sees isn't the truth of who these people are, but only a created character. It also (by proxy) makes one reflect on how much being in these films has affected the lives of the participants. Just as in physics, it seems to be true here as well, that the very act of being observed changes what is being observed.

All fascinating and thought-provoking stuff.