Life in a Day 2020

Collecting videos from all over the globe, this YouTube movie is a balanced time capsule of human life in 2020. Keeping the view point with common people instead of directly depicting global events (or going full Koyaanisqatsi) it stays real, life affirming, and entertaining. While simultaneously avoiding being grandiose or cheesy.

A good watch for all of us locked in our rooms, houses, and apartments. Reminding us of the larger world out there.

The second installment of 'Life in a Day' movie, first filmed in 2010, makes a 10 years leap and catches the world once again in its lenses, this time in the special conditions of the covid pandemic.

It's interesting to see how people thought this could unfold, how others are now after 10 years since the last movie and that the major concerns and joys of people around the world haven't changed.

I remember an old show called "Ben Casey" that began with the lead in, "Birth, Life, Death, Infinity." This is the task of this documentary which has had mixed reviews. The original was done in 2010 and this was a follow up. It must have been a monumental task. While there are some pretty gripping scenes, the editing was all over the place. Transitions were unclear and sometimes it was hard to see where things were going. Maybe a little voice over using poetry or some literary pieces would have helped. I suppose since so many cultures were engaged, that might be unfair. I stayed with it, but I never had the aha moment. Certainly worth a look.

Perhaps an interesting approach on what a "life in a day" may look like around our vast planet (I do have my doubts), but animals are slaughtered without the slightest warning for the viewer. An absolute disgrace. This lack of empathy and of awareness almost made me faint, when a veal is shot twice in the head, remains alive, then has a knife plunged into the neck, with blood flooding everywhere. Artists may show the world the way they intend to and the freedom of art has almost no limit, but failing to warn viewers about highly disturbing images can be interpreted as an acute lack of empathy, especially now that the mechanisms of triggers are widely understood and studied. Perhaps this documentary is not aimed at more sensitive viewers. Loathed it.

Following on from Life in a Day from 2010, we're now back again with an update, the 2020 version. Directed by Kevin McDonald again and executive produced by Ridley Scott (who I'm sure did sod all). It's essentially the same idea repeated. People film stuff themselves (324,000 videos we're told at the start), all shot on 25th July 2020, uploaded to YouTube and Kevin sticks it all together in some meaningful way. I can't remember a damn thing about the last one and ask me about this in 10 years... or maybe next month and I'll have forgotten. It's not that it's crap. There's some exquisite content here and it's interesting while you're watching it. But with no context given to the material, it's mere forgettable wallpaper. Some of it very nice wallpaper, shot beautifully in 4K, or underwater or a in staggering amount of drone shots. It does it's best with a dramatic start, a montage of women in labour and sunrises as cities wake up. Cows are milked, roosters crow, the world prepares for the day. It's fun, frivolous, a bit quirky. Most of the clips are cut too tight to truly enjoy, but there are some sequences left to breathe a little easier. In general the tone is kept light, hopeful, everyone sharing their best selves, with even the sadder moments kept brief. We get proposals and weddings, lots of masks and social distancing of course. Shot in 2020 this is inevitable and in a way that makes it a little more interesting as a document. We've had the births and marriages, Covid covers the death quota and it gets a lot of screen time, but all the big events of the year are here, the BLM marches and trouble in America does in many ways appear to carry the most weight. Ultimately it's a love letter to life, to humanity. I'm not sure it's really much of a success in summing us up or summing up one day in July, but it's pohsitive and that should probably be celebrated.