Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

st-shot 49 Up is a continuation of a documentary begun in 1963 with fourteen 7 year olds of various economic backgrounds. Every seven years director Michael Apted catches up with the group (2 have dropped out completely) to discuss their present situation as well as their past. It is a remarkable document to watch unfold.I first discovered the series at Up 28 then back tracked the first three episodes to catch up. Since then each subsequent episode is like having family or friends visit to talk about what's been going on in their life. By 49 all the participants have reached their pinnacle though some still hold onto dreams and while illness and divorce have taken their toll it has not dampened the spirit or drive of any of them. While some at the age of 7 (Peter: "I read the Financial Times")are the men they are today none are in the doldrums of not having turned out different than what they thought they would be. Loyal partners, children and grandchildren have more than buttressed against the disappointments and bumps in the road we all come across as we go through life. This incredibly unique series was begun as England and the world was about to go through a great social metamorphoses. The Beatles, iconoclastic playwright John Osbourne, political assassinations and Viet Nam were beginning to pick up speed. It was the world that was about to be handed to these children in which they would become its caretakers. But thankfully the series skirts the larger political issues and concentrates more on each participants personal journey which makes for a far more intimate and engrossing study. Director Apted (as well as his candid and willing subjects) is to be highly commended for his commitment and perseverance in keeping this 42 year long documentary on the same steady path. In today's shameless society reality TV presents us with self absorbed tattooed and silicone freaks dumb as a post feigning sincerity coached by handlers for maximum shock effect. There isn't an ounce of truth in watching this detritus perform since it is more akin to a carnival freak show then reality. Up 49 and those before it allows the viewer to see the dignity of the common man unfold from childhood to adulthood and beyond in the real and changing world we live without phony fanfare or shocking exhibitionism to juice the content. Told in a straight forward style it showcases human experience in an objective and respectful way without condescension while still asking the tough questions. It is an outstanding achievement and magnificent example of the power of film at its most subtle.

tedg I have to admit that this series is at least historically significant, and on that measure alone you should dive into it. But I would recommend seeing this one alone.The first few really did ping on a very simple and obvious class dynamic, more of interest to an English audience going through a reinvention. The subjects were treated less as people than as examples of a national pool. The poor kids turned out to be low class nitwits and the rich kids differing only in being rich nitwits. Then in the middle, Apted decided that it really was about individual lives, and started to hammer away on the changes in life. The editing got successively more tedious as we were given more and more facts. After a few in that phase we ended up with 42 Up, absolutely the worst of the lot. Its because it had more Apted than subject. Like his subjects, he hadn't grown much at all, and while his subjects mewed on mostly about motherhood, it became obvious that it was an obsession of his as well. So that last edition was just hammering away on the maternal glue of the family, presuming that we will all relate and extend the notion on our own to the things that matter in our lives. Or alternatively collect around them whatever voyeuristic pleasures you wish. But this one at least is good film-making. It has a center and economy which all the recent ones lack. And it has something new: self reference. Nearly every one of the dozen is asked about how the series affects their lives. The answers are the best part, in fact the only thing that I find mildly interesting.That's because there is no great window into class dynamics here, no window into anything other than a dozen peoples' lives. And they are profoundly uninteresting people, people with no ideas, no real souls. People with nothing to offer except local goodness. The problem is that they started with 14 kids and are stuck with them, no matter how vapid their lives are. I suppose that's the appeal to some, but I wish they had started with ten thousand children, picked the ones with lives or souls, even tragic that could tell us something and then worked backwards.It doesn't change me at all, and I find none of these people remotely interesting. I can get the same, more humanly in real life every day.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

weisser-2 This is not a social science film and it's not exactly an art film either. But neither is it just another version of Big Brother. I personally found this unique project profoundly moving in its originality. Through this film we get a deep sense of the way humans adjust to their circumstances, maintain their personalities and shape their own lives around what they want and can have. I had a sense of the innate decency of most human beings, our capacity for love and survival, the way in which character runs deeper than circumstances, but also the strong effect that circumstances such as the class one is born into can have on us. Most of all I was touched by the unpredictability of life: it would have been hard to say whose marriages would last and whose would not, for example.Having said that, it is unclear to me why so many of the subjects, who volunteer to take part in the filming, seem to fear and oppose it so much. As someone who would have loved the opportunity to revisit my own life at different stages, I have a hard time understanding the reasons for their reluctance and even hostility.

Red-125 "49 Up" (2005), co-produced and directed by Michael Apted, is the seventh episode of a unique venture in film-making. Apted began filming a group of children at age seven, and has followed and filmed their lives every seven years since then.For us, as spectators, following the progress of the lives of these children has been fascinating. However, the children themselves, who are now well into middle age, don't appear to be very happy with themselves or with the project.I have two questions about this. In the first place, why are these people so angry at Michael Apted? (We never see Apted, but the individuals confront him, and we hear his answers to their comments.) Naturally, it's hard to know what Apted puts into his films, and what he leaves out. However, as far as I can tell, he's fair and objective in what he shows us. The characters in the movies certainly don't like the films, and most of them don't like Apted. One person, while conceding that being in the film helped him raise money for his favorite charity, refers to the process as the poison pill that he swallows every seven years. The United Kingdom has a population of about 60 million people. That means that these people had roughly a two in a million chance to be chosen for the project. No one else in England--even the Queen--is scrutinized in quite this way. Why aren't they happy to leave a record of their lives?The second question is, If they hate the project so much, why do they continue to participate? (I don't know if they are paid--that's never been made clear.) In any event, they certainly don't have any legal, moral, or ethical obligation to allow Apted to film them. They could just tell him that they're finished with the project. Why don't they? (Some have, but most return every seven years.)I had a thought about this after seeing 49 Up. This time, I found the film pretty depressing. Naturally, some people were happier than others, but no one appeared to be really satisfied with his or her life. Could it be that something about being filmed every seven years has altered the trajectory of the lives of these people? Maybe they think they would have been happier if they had never heard about Apted's project. Maybe they're wrong, but maybe they're right.