63 Up

First, let's address the flaws of the program. The series explores the class system in England and how it determines the opportunities afforded each child. Each series begins with the quote "Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man." Finally, the attitude of the filmmakers toward women is evident, especially in the earliest episodes. The subjects also complain of the superficiality of the series, constrained to half-hour segments on each person every 7 years.

True enough. Yet the series is mesmerizing for revealing changing attitudes and circumstances and how individuals cope with all the struggles we encounter as we age. Career advancement, relationship struggles, financial issues, health and death are glimpsed through the camera lens. Just to see the bright-eyed children at 7 and to see, even superficially, how each individual creates and lives a life reveals something of an era and themselves. The participants are subjected to the most intimate and sometimes mundane questions. Yet, for the most part, they continue to participate and kudos to them. I hope it gives them a chance to reflect and some perspective. I wonder if you would recognize the 7 year old I once was with the mature adult I am now.

The graying and mortality of the Up family takes center stage in the ninth installment of this incredible landmark series. One member has passed away and another is gravely ill as children and grandchildren dot the reunions and monopolize conversation and concern. Retired or nearing it they all show little to no regret in most cases with all for the most part satisfied with the way things have turned out this far along. There have been disappointments and setbacks but hope springs eternal in all as they look to the future well aware they are past their peak but still have something to offer and look forward to.

I adopted these distant relatives decades back and always look forward to the reunions where I get to catch up with them. It has been interesting watching them grow and mature over time as I have aged with them. Holding up a mirror to my face, mulling over the same questions director Michael Apted poses to them and their responses it remains a cinematic experience like no other for me. Hopefully I'll be around with the rest of them for the next chapter.

Time remains undefeated. Death is stalking the series now. It's the uncredited cast member haunting everyone from this point on. Michael Apted remains the director but I don't know for how long. He stays off camera to my disappointment. Some members are battling illnesses. Work is winding down or even gone. Most are happy to talk about their kids and grandkids. A few speak about Brexit. Neil is not fully open about his trouble marriage and I can understand why. Tony's cab business has been heavily damaged by Uber and he has retreated from his Spanish dreams. I wonder if Lynn's family gets their own section in the next one. Does this continue beyond death? More and more, I wonder about mortality in general and the mortality of this series.

For half a decade, people have been astonished at Richard Linklater's BOYHOOD, a movie shot over the course of more than a decade, using the same cast.... as if Michael Apted had not been doing the same thing as a documentary for more than half a century since, as a researcher at ITV, he had been a part of the landmark SEVEN UP (1964) and ever since writer, interviewer, director and occasionally the object of his subjects' scorn for his old-fashioned attitudes.

The first one took the quote "Give me a child for seven years, and I will show you the man" and offered to check in every seven years to review the result. Now, as the subjects face retirement, one has died, and others are looking forward to the endings of their lives, they are called on for review. Is that seven-year-old still with them? What have they learned from the 'program' and is it of any value? Is the class system so evident a lifetime ago still in place? How do they feel about Brexit?

I think the series has been a remarkable achievement, and as a survey of the Baby Boomers, fascinating. It's a pleasure and an education to watch these people show up, grow up, and become, slowly and eventually, themselves, typical and unique.

Apted has called the situation for 70 UP (2026?) "fluid". He himself will be 85 if it comes out, along with many death notices for such of the original subjects that yet survive. It's possible, I suppose, but I'm a couple of years older than these people, and there is, therefore, some doubt I will be around to hear from my old friends from Britain. I wish them all well. They have not been easy friends, but they have been far more honest about who they are than most people I know.... or me.

The 9th episode of an epic documentary series that I really think everyone should watch at some point in their lives. It is so powerful with its simplicity honesty that anyone can easily find something relevant to them. Witnessing how people change over the years but also how they don't change, understanding the importance of our early years and how they shape our future, the goals that we want to achieve in life and the ones we fail to achieve. It's all here.

A group of people from different backgrounds who were born in 1957 are interviewed every 7 years. (p.s. need to start from first one "Seven Up")