63 Up

"Give me a child until he is 7, and I will give you the man."

Director Michael Apted has been revisiting the same group of 14 British-born adults every seven years for 56 years. It's a documentary achievement not ever before attempted. It succeeds magically.

His above thesis centers around the notion that at 7 years you can see the same person at 63. Well, maybe not fully, but their individual personalities come through as Apted flashes back to scenes from previous 7-year iterations, including the first in 1963 to let us see the growth of his engaging subjects.

Almost all participants have achieved some happiness, from laborer and mother to Oxford grads and barrister. Common to most of their happiness is children, as good an endorsement of having children as you will ever see. Yet, disappointments and tragedy follow them as well as impermanent happiness, as happens to all who walk this earth.

Apted smartly updates his take by asking questions about current life, such as Brexit or lack of opportunity to buy a home. It is obvious that their children are often staying home into maturity from their inability to buy. Even Tony, a real estate developer, is forced by 2008 to downsize.

Nick learns 10 days before Apted's arrival that he has lung cancer, and librarian Lynn has died from a playground accident. All in all, life has just moved on relentlessly to its inevitable conclusion.

Somehow Apted doesn't set us off into grim thoughts about the human condition; rather he celebrates the small moments of life that give joy and connect us all in common experiences. As his series seems to be coming to a close, we can enjoy watching cohesive parts of the lives we share with each other.

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.

63 UP (Michael Apted, 2019). In limited release.

The world's greatest ever cinema experiment enters with it's latest installment - 56+ years in the making. At this point, the films are far removed from being stand-alone projects.One must have seen a few of the previous episodes (spaced 7 years apart since 1964) in order to fully appreciate the marvelous work Michael Apted and his team have achieved. And, now, as the group (originally 14 children) have broached the 60 year threshold, the mortality factor has certainly become the overwhelming obstacle to the series continuing. The first of the 14 has already passed on, another is very ill, and two more participants declined being interviewed (one for the very first time; the second (Charles) left in the late-70s/early 80s). Still, as melancholy a Doc as 63 UP is, it's still a fine piece of work. I began watching the series with 1984's 28 UP, and haven't missed one since (I've also caught up with 2 of the 3 other entries recently). So, to see the remaining eleven men and women is like catching up with old friends. American viewers are used to 'reality show' celebrities now, but, keep in mind, this group have been major celebrities in England for much of the past five decades. Tony, the ex-cabbie even relates a story of a passenger asking for his autograph when they were all in the company of Buzz Aldrin - the 2nd man to walk on the moon! Filmmaker Michael Apted (COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER, WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH) is now 78. Apted was a researcher on the original film (now dubbed 7 UP), and has directed all the subsequent films (he told me he had a contingency plan in place in case he wasn't able to finish future episodes). See you in seven years. On to 70 UP

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")

In 1964, the short film "Seven Up!" appeared on British television. Its focus was on fourteen seven-year old children of different class backgrounds expressing their aspirations in life. Every seven years, a sequel was made re-interviewing the subjects as they expressed their current (at the time) life situations, concerns, and again, their outlooks for the future. "63 Up" focuses on most of the original fourteen post-middle age.

This film is part of a superb periodic series which uses great editing from its prequels to show the passage of time. The current film has special relevance as it is at the time of life when mortality is rearing its head.

Most of the subjects have lead rather conventional lives but there are a few exceptions particularly a man (Neil) who had great difficulties in his twenties and has had fascinating, unpredictable changes since then.

"63 Up" not only covers changes in the lives of the subjects but occasionally the changes in the world itself or at least in the UK. This includes discussions of the subjects' adult children who will likely face financial difficulties compared to their own prosperity as baby-boomers. In some ways, there could have been more talk on such worldly changes although Tony, a taxi driver, is blunt in describing how the rise of Uber has affected his livelihood.

The rare time an interviewee is asked about Brexit, it was always a man. There are only a handful of women (four out of the fourteen) interviewed and the omission of asking them questions on the state of the world reflects an attitude in earlier clips when as girls or young women, they were asked only about ideals of boyfriends, husbands, and children. Thankfully, an older clip is included in which one of the gals confronts the interviewer/director (Michael Apted) on this - and quite strongly, too.

While many of the stories have much in common and occasionally seem ordinary, it is still easy to care for these people after all these years. - dbamateurcritic