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So much average

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The gang is back under the directions of Michael Apted. They are now closing in on old age. Everybody is looking back rather than looking forward. Sure they look forward for their kids, but not anymore for themselves. Peter has finally return to the series, but it's only a taste. He's only giving the highlights but mostly he wants to promote his band. He still isn't completely open especially about his first marriage. That is still better than Charles who is still absent.The question is starting to creep in on what will happen to this series if one of them pass or maybe if Michael Apted pass. This raises the question of what the future episode will look like. It will probably feel like talking to my parents and the older generations about their aches and pains. Everybody will be comparing their medical health. The part I want to see now is Michael Apted on camera. He's getting up there in age and it would be nice to see the group talk to him as an equal before it's too late.

While I did check the Spoiler box, I wanted to warn again that I might have some spoilers in this review.Perhaps not surprisingly, this series has been uneven. Some very good ones, and some not-so-good ones. I'd say with the exception of the original 7 Up, this is probably the best in the series. I am five years younger than these people, so I could relate to some of the their feelings at this stage in their life. I thought that as they are aging, most of them have become more and more likable. Even cab driver Tony, one of my least favorite people in this series now comes off as a decent guy to me. Obviously, Neil is probably the most compelling character of this group, and I'm glad to see that he's doing so much better now compared to 28 and 35.I also thought that it was smart that when Apted shows clips from prior cycles, he is starting to put on the screen which movie it came from. At 42 Up and 49 Up, it was getting extremely difficult to figure out which years we were seeing in the massive cross-cutting that is done. This makes 56 Up much easier to follow than those two.On the DVD's Special Features, section, I would also highly recommend watching the late Roger Ebert's interview with Michael Apted after 49 Up came out. It definitely gave me additional insight and context. Next to Neil, I have always found Suzy to be my favorite person in the series, primarily because of her extreme transformation from 21 to 28! Apted notes in the commentary that Suzy is a big fan favorite for many...I thought it might have only been me! He also notes how the tone is different for each of these films, based on what is going on at that life stage, and actually refers to 28 Up as "overbearing." I found that interesting, because for me, 28 Up is by far the worst of the series.If you haven't seen any of the series, I'm not sure I'd recommend this. One should at least see 7 Up/14 Up (on the same DVD in America) before seeing 56 Up. I started with 49 Up when it came out, and since then, started watching them in order so that I would be all caught up with 56 Up.

I saw this documentary spread out over three episodes on SBS TV over here. Perhaps it is the new medium which makes me think that this latest installment is the best in the series. Somehow it seems more lucid and to the point. Given that my memory of the cinema released earlier installments of this series isn't fresh, I'll just have to take on trust that this superiority in quality is real and not imagined. It's my impression that the organisation of these subjects' stories is more logically presented in any case. It just coheres better.Being the 8th instalment in this series, you have to wonder if the 'experiment' has run its course...it must surely have 'proven' what it set out to achieve...to determine how class effects people's life chances in England. These subjects are now 56 years old (obviously) and we already know how their life unfolded...many movies ago. The director of this series, Michael Apted, is also getting on in years and you have to wonder if he will be around in another seven years to do another one of these documentaries...or if his health will be sufficient.Each episode I saw of 56 Up on SBS had 3 or 4 subjects the featured people of that episode (I saw this documentary late last year, so it's not fresh in my memory...going on notes here). I did in fact wonder whether I had missed a previous movie in this series (which I'm not sure is the case) because at least one of the subjects did not ring a bell for me (looking at the Wikipedia entry for the "56 Up", I think that that may in fact have been Peter). However, the series is notorious for various subjects not turning up in a later movie, in seven years time (some subjects I think have never reappeared after 14 Up). If there were subjects from 7 Up missing, they were not mentioned, unfortunately (a mention of their last appearance and the reason/s given for them refusing to participate in future documentaries would have been good). Since each new documentary often recaps the subject's appearance in some/all previous "Up" documentaries, it's not strictly necessary to watch them all in order...but it might be nice to check out where it all began, "7 Up" (the concept for the series being the old Jesuit saying "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man". The idea being that these formative first seven years will determine the adult).Some things which interested me: * If there was any reason to have another instalment in this series, for me it would be to find out how Jackie fares...in 56 Up she has rheumatoid arthritis and gets dropped from a social security benefit on the basis that she can still work. Like a soap opera, I want to know "What happens to her?". In this documentary she is relying on financial assistance from her son, I think.* Director/interviewer Michael Apted is more the centre of attention in this episode at times...he wonders aloud to Tony if he (Tony) is racist. Tony doesn't like that one bit! * John, a barrister, makes a good point about the series portraying his success as an inevitable part of his background (i.e. class) but he does make a good point about how fragile his background was and how his life could have crashed around him had it not been for his mother's perseverance. Such contextual information was not presented in the earlier documentaries, which suggests that the series was ignoring counter-factual evidence to its premise that class determines life outcomes.* Sue was an interesting case. By Australian standards, her rise to being an administrator at a university would suggest social mobility. She has working class roots, I think. The way that Sue describes it, she is not doing so well. I'm curious as to whether this is indicative of the squeeze on the middle class these last few years or merely her spending habits. I'm pretty sure that someone in her position over here would be considered middle class, at least...upper middle class, in fact. I'm not suggesting that she is a spendthrift...I have no idea...just wondering if it is a possibility though...as in she thinks she is poor because she is a consumerist.* Suzy is also interesting in this documentary, from memory. I think it is her who tells Apted that she feels a certain perverse sense of loyalty to the series...like it's a potboiler, but she feels a sense of duty to it, or something like that. In other words, she doesn't feel as if the "Up" series is some sort of important social documentary.* The "Up" series has a musical sting (very dramatic brass riff) which reminds me of the Australian TV police drama "Homicide".* Just btb, I was curious about a scene they included from "7 Up"...I think it involved Bruce...at the party, I think, or maybe the playground...it almost looks like he takes out another boy's eye (almost!)...or perhaps he was the victim. Looked dangerous in any case!* I wasn't sure if all of Jackie's friends from 7 Up were in this documentary and I suspect that the more casual boy who was friends with John and his fellow 'posh' subjects was missing from this latest instalment too.* Peter's return seems to be merely to promote his band! Apparently they are quite successful in their own way in England. It's this guy who I don't think I knew who the Hell he was!

56 Up - hard to believe. I've watched 3 or 4 of these over my 53 years, and each one becomes harder for me to watch as I get older. I was suddenly a little scared when the titles for this one started; I almost walked out of the theater. What has become of this group of kids that director Apted has been following since he was 22 years old? What new tragedies had befallen them? Whatever became of the homeless guy? Would any of them finally blow up at Apted on-camera?Probably the most unnerving thing for me was that the film would just be unbearably poignant. It seems almost god-like to be able to see how a group of 14 people's lives have progressed over a 49-year period. (Yet, as one of the men complains, viewers can't possibly know these people, even though many in Britain presume to (since this was shown on TV there, many British people have watched all 8 films). Fortunately, however, the film isn't overly sentimental or maudlin. Still, the film is very touching and can't help but make you think about your own life and trials, what advantages you may or may not have had compared to these people, and how you would have fared given their circumstances.One of the sadder aspects of these films is to see how life seems to have "beaten down" so many of these people. Some of the kids with bright, shiny eyes who seemed to have so much energy and hope now seem to be dejected and defeated adults. Yet this isn't true for all of them - some of the reserved, quiet kids turned out to be reserved, quiet adults. And it's not all sad - there are some good laughs and some inspiring successes. And two subjects who had dropped out returned for this segment - one to promote his band! There are plenty of clips from earlier segments, so you don't need to rent any of the earlier ones, but I'd recommend it. You get a more profound sense of the flow of their lives by seeing at least one other one. But whatever you do, see this one.