Movie Log 2006 #84-88: The Up series, dir. Michael Apted
In anticipation of 49 UP hitting theatres and DVD this month, we rented the set of the previous films in this series (I'm not counting 42 Up in the tally because I'd already seen it), had some people over, and watched them in one 12-hour binge last weekend. I highly recommend this; perhaps not all in one day, but in as close succession as one can stand. The series was never meant to be viewed in this manner, so we ended up seeing some of the recap footage six or more times throughout the day. (Paul really doesn't like greens.) Also, Apted has apparently pissed off a few of his subjects with his line of inquiry. One participant notes she thinks she has a pretty good life until every seven years when she's made to feel bad about it. I think that rather than deliberately trying to provoke, he's testing the thesis of the original film: Britain's class structure is entrenched so that one's life path is pretty well determined by age 7, and deviation from that path might be considered a failure.

Which leads to a potential meme: What would your interviews be like at the intervals in the film (7, 14, 21, etc.)? What leading questions might get a rise out of you?

At age 7...We were still living on the Northeast side. The closest school was far enough away that I had to be bused, and with one car, a 3-y.o. sister, and a mom who didn't drive (long story), I couldn't get to the park-rec stuff that some of my friends were doing. As I recall, this chafed a little. I was reading far ahead of my grade level, but remember struggling with math. I had a fierce "I can do it myself" streak, which meant I was horrible at a lot of things but refused help with them (to date, my handwriting is atrocious). I don't remember what sort of career ambitions I had at 7. Probably a Jedi. The lofty goal of movie projectionist would come later. Girls weren't icky, but I didn't have whatever 7-year-olds call girlfriends. I suppose my parents would say we were poor. Aside from whatever toy I craved at the time and didn't get, I don't remember wanting for much, and we'd own a house within a year.