What do a bricklayer, barrister, solicitor, cabbie, politician, forklift operator, astrophysicist, and a few housewives all share in common? Outside of this ongoing documentary series, and other than their being human, perhaps not a whole lot. Then again, maybe not all that much here as well, other than the fact that the majority of them have confessed on camera as to their continued reluctance in being a part of this longitudinal study. This I have never understood. Thanks to the magic of filmmaking, this has, in a manner of speaking, made them all immortal -- their being captured on film for countless future generations to behold and appreciate is something that you would think would fill them with a sense of wonder. What lucky souls these people are to have been a part of this essentially numinous film project.
I was saddened to learn of one of the participants having passed on. Another one's health isn't in the best of shape.
As one who has followed this series since his early twenties (I'm about in my mid-40s as of this writing), I like many others have in a sense grown up with these people, whether they would care to know this or not.
Yes, the included factor of senescence has taken its toll, but here's one loyal viewer who would like to see the director take this project of his to the next level: to "70" if not "77." Not only would either one of these titles make for an apt phonetical finish and bring a full-circle-sense of closure to the series (in their use of the number 7), but anything beyond that, I feel, would not be the dignified thing to do. No one would want to see these beloved subjects in their eighties, at an age when for many octogenarians senility and incontinence begin to enter the picture.
One quibble I have always had with these "Up" features is that their segments take up too much time with flashback footage of earlier clips of interviews. We viewers only get to spend so much time with these people after not having seen them for seven years, and excited we are to learn what's new in their lives. In my opinion, we don't require any time-consuming backstory, as most of us have seen every previous instalment.
I would here like to conclude by way of a relevant memory of my own. A few years back, I went and watched the first seven instalments of this series over the span of a two-week period. What this rather surreal experience impressed upon me the most, was just how short our lives are and how unsettling it was to see how quickly a seven-year-old could turn into a forty-nine year-old in a single fortnight. Not to get too maudlin, but it also got me to thinking how striving after anything in this world, be it a family or a career or higher education, is rather insignificant in the grand cosmic scheme of things. And that we are who we are, in large part, based on forces beyond our control: namely, nature and nurture ... and for some of us, a filmmaker's time constraints.
I was saddened to learn of one of the participants having passed on. Another one's health isn't in the best of shape.
As one who has followed this series since his early twenties (I'm about in my mid-40s as of this writing), I like many others have in a sense grown up with these people, whether they would care to know this or not.
Yes, the included factor of senescence has taken its toll, but here's one loyal viewer who would like to see the director take this project of his to the next level: to "70" if not "77." Not only would either one of these titles make for an apt phonetical finish and bring a full-circle-sense of closure to the series (in their use of the number 7), but anything beyond that, I feel, would not be the dignified thing to do. No one would want to see these beloved subjects in their eighties, at an age when for many octogenarians senility and incontinence begin to enter the picture.
One quibble I have always had with these "Up" features is that their segments take up too much time with flashback footage of earlier clips of interviews. We viewers only get to spend so much time with these people after not having seen them for seven years, and excited we are to learn what's new in their lives. In my opinion, we don't require any time-consuming backstory, as most of us have seen every previous instalment.
I would here like to conclude by way of a relevant memory of my own. A few years back, I went and watched the first seven instalments of this series over the span of a two-week period. What this rather surreal experience impressed upon me the most, was just how short our lives are and how unsettling it was to see how quickly a seven-year-old could turn into a forty-nine year-old in a single fortnight. Not to get too maudlin, but it also got me to thinking how striving after anything in this world, be it a family or a career or higher education, is rather insignificant in the grand cosmic scheme of things. And that we are who we are, in large part, based on forces beyond our control: namely, nature and nurture ... and for some of us, a filmmaker's time constraints.