98% 56 Up

All Critics (55) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (54) | Rotten (1)

Yes, on some level it's just a seven-year check-in with people maybe half-remembered, if that. Yet the films also serve as a kind of check-in with us, too.

What ultimately is so compelling about 56 Up is the universality of the experiences. We were all once children. And we all will die. And in between, there is everything else.

We feel good, refreshed and depressed in watching these people get older, also embarrassed in moments and cautioned about the passage of time.

Apted, himself now in his early 70s, says he hopes to continue the series further. Long may it live.

Watching "56 Up" gives you the wonderful feeling of seeing a sociological experiment blossom into something novelistically rich and humane.

Time has been neither kind nor cruel to the 13 men and women profiled in "56 UP." It has just been time, which is what this groundbreaking series is about.

Chances are that you'll come away from this long film feeling a sense of knowing its characters.

We might say that '56 Up' serves much the same function as 'Amour,' but it responds to the inevitability of decline with compassion, not dread.

What started as a crafty way of looking at the U.K.'s rigid class structure has grown into a portrait of melancholy middle age, with its heartbreaks and minor-key triumphs.

Those British kids are now 56

Watching the eighth film is intriguing but, in a way, disappointing. At this point in the game, it feels as if all the characters have determined their lots in life and are simply plodding through their interviews.

Quite simply one of the great documentary projects in the history of cinema, an engrossing sociological experiment on film; and though this mostly mellow installment isn't as revelatory as some earlier ones, it's still a remarkable document.

... feels like a retrospective and summation of the whole series, with ample quotation from the previous films, an approach that makes it interesting even for viewers who haven't seen the previous installments.

A completely unique and remarkable documentary project.

Apted skillfully weaves old footage with the new, and we become poignantly aware of another factor shaping their lives (and our own): biology, as the we watch the once-cute kids grow gray and heavy.

Perhaps the boldest and probably longest running sociological experiment on film.

I think the best thing about this movie (and the entire series) is that it forces the viewer to think about their own lives. It's kind of an awakening experience.

Once again, Apted assembles a captivating documentary that's profoundly educational, essential viewing to aid the understanding of the human experience.

"56 Up" is well worth seeing.

56 Up is still moving and philosophic, though not as exciting as earlier episodes, which had more drama.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/56_up/

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