56 Up...

[fajrdrako]

I went to see 56 Up with Lisa and Lynne at the Mayfair.

Before the movie, they showed a trailer for Skyfall, which will be on later in the week. I'd been planning to go to see it. Sadly, the trailer was so dim, muddy and fuzzy that I don't think I want to go now. Maybe the actual movie will be better; the film quality of 56 Up was fine.

It's a documentary, part of a series in which a group of people have been interviewed every seven years since they were seven years old in 1964. It was very interesting; but I did have the feeling that it was foreign both in time and place, as if these people were of a different, earlier generation from me, instead of being a few years younger.

I wished the filmmakers had explained the situation and the premise more at the beginning, but there was minimal introduction. Whose idea was the series? Who was the interviewer? How did they choose the children? Perhaps this is common knowledge in the UK, but I had no idea.

With each of fourteen people, they showed snippets of earlier interviews, then focussed on the interview and their life in the present. Each was interesting, one way or another, though sometimes the questions were framed to elicit certain types of responses. The only time I noticed the (unseen) interviewer being confrontational was at the end, where he accused Tony of being racist. Tony indignantly denied it.

It's like a long-running piece of reality TV.

I thought it could have been edited slightly more cogently, though that was perhaps because the seats at the Mayfair were not very comfortable, and by the two-hour point I was feeling fidgety. But there were a few times I found the editing to be confusing - going back and forth between two people, or making references which needed more explanation than was given.

I wonder if they'll make another one when the people are 63.