Day 7 at NYFF - 49 Up

Most artsy-fartsy film buffs will rave about how they love, love, love documentaries. "They're so real, so much more engaging than fiction." This is bollocks in my opinion. It's all in the editing. I find the many documentaries boring, unfocused, pedantic, or unimaginative. I guess this comes from the difficult challenge inherent in all documentaries - how to you create tension, mystery, suspense, or interest 'hook' to keep the audience engaged. I've suffered through 'creative process' documentaries, family exposés, and idol-worship promotional films. Luckily there are great documentaries that are out there like Spellbound, The Heart of the Game, and Sherman's March. Film festivals and smart distributors fortunately are able to filter out the bad from the good so most theatrically released documentariess tend to be better than the plethora of fiction.

The only 'series' documentary I've seen luckily is worthy of distribution and it all started with a British television program World In Action. It was a program that looked at the differences and similarities between seven year old children in very different systems - privledged prep school, public school, private school, and a children's home. Michael Apted was a young director at the time who fortunately saw the bigger story - what would happen to the group of children years into their future? Based on the Jesuit proverb, "Give me the child for the first seven years, and I'll give you the man," Apted decided to update the story of these kids every seven years with his Up series and in 2005 we have 49Up.

49 UP
Director: Michael Apted, Country: United Kingdom, Release: 2006, Runtime: 135 min.
Realitytelelvisionn without the forced manipulation

Black and white archival footage of children playing on a playground open this spectrum look at the lives of a dozen of the subjects. We get to see a cockney taxi driver, a librarian, a barrister, a math teacher, a scientist living in America, and many other normal butinterestingg people. Apted does a wonderful job intermixing old footage from earlier years with current updates on how the 'kids' are today. If you have seen earlier documentaries, you will enjoy learning how Tony's marriage and family is doing, where Nick is, and if Neil, a rather rambling guy who has been homeless off and on, is doing O.K.. In a pleasant surprise, Symon, missing from 42 Up, returns for this film. But if you haven't seen the earlier works, Apted carefully gives you enough footage from the past so you won't be lost just watching 49 Up by itself.

You can tell this invasive process takes its toll on the subjects. Apted lets each person's update end with a reflection on how filming has affected them. Jackie really lets into Apted, harshly criticizing him for the fact his filming and hiseditingg are manipulative and she is not happy about how she's come across in past films. A tense dialog is exchanged between artist and subject and it is refreshing to have that honesty included. What really shines in the film is the shared challenges they all face - marriages, children, careers, starting over, finding happiness, and learning to appreciate themselves. Theresiliencee of the human spirit is evident in most of the stories and it is so hopeful to see many look more at ease with themselves as they've grown older. At times the film runs long but it must be difficult to condense 49 years oftwelvee peoples lives into one feature film. Apted nicely ends with contrasting shots - them playing as seven year old kids and them enjoying their current life. It is the most hopeful of the Up films and a wonderful tribute to the beauty of life, loves, family, and experiences.

Trivia: Charles, who has refused to participate in the Up series after 21 Up is a documentary film maker; this fact has truly irked Michael Apted.