Rating: 
Summary: Can't wait to see 42 ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Review: While browsing aimlessly through a video store a few days ago, a title in the 'Foreign' section caught my eye: 28 UP. Being one of those rare Americans who can actually sit still through a documentary, I rented it, took it home and stuck it in my VCR--and for the next two hours I was riveted. What an incredible concept, and a well-produced piece!The copyright date on the cover was 1984, so I anxiously assumed that Michael Apted has since followed through with a 35 UP and a 42 UP. Sure enough, here they are! Okay, so I haven't seen these last two yet, but if they're anything like 28, I'm sure I'm in for a treat. Seeing glimpses of the subjects' lives intercut forward and backward, leaping 7, 14, 21 years at a time, makes for a fascinating sociological study--every bit as engaging as, say, a James Bond film (hint, hint, Mr. Apted, give us more of this stuff and less of that big-budget disposable entertainment). The one art house we have in Phoenix didn't screen 42 UP when it opened, so I anxiously await the video release. (And please--in the meantime, don't anyone tell me what happens to Neil!)
Rating:
Summary: Inconclusive - I hope it does not end here
Review: With the immense popularity of the "reality shows" this documentary series, begun 40 years before its time, is the REAL reality. Since it is based on a curiosity about human development and not on some current Hollywood fad, it has a priceless honesty that cannot be replicated, including the current opting out by three who had had enough. It also shows many things about the documentors, documentary style, and technology over time that the participants may not realize is included in what is revealed. Views of both sides of the camera are important.
This fan of the "Up" series deeply hopes the "lost three" might return to share their wisdom at 49Up -- including how it was opting out. Did they miss it? What wisdom do they have to share with us? Presumably, if they do not return, they are telling us they made the right choice for themselves, but their fans will always wonder how things are going.
Thank you, participants, for giving this unique gift and assisting in the understanding of human development through life stages. Your fans love you and think you're very important. You are the cousins we never met.
Rating:
Summary: The REAL reality, 40 years before it's time.
Review: With the immense popularity of the "reality shows" this documentary series, begun 40 years before its time, is the REAL reality. Since it is based on a curiosity about human development and not on some current Hollywood fad, it has a priceless honesty that cannot be replicated, including the current opting out by three who had had enough. It also shows many things about the documentors, documentary style, and technology over time that the participants may not realize is included in what is revealed. Views of both sides of the camera are important.
This fan of the "Up" series deeply hopes the "lost three" might return to share their wisdom at 49Up -- including how it was opting out. Did they miss it? What wisdom do they have to share with us? Presumably, if they do not return, they are telling us they made the right choice for themselves, but their fans will always wonder how things are going.
Thank you, participants, for giving this unique gift and assisting in the understanding of human development through life stages. Your fans love you and think you're very important. You are the cousins we never met.
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