The Up series, part 1 of 2

This review will focus on the first 3 films of Michael Apted's Up documentary series. The first 3 films deal with the ages of the participants at 7, 14 and 21. Part 2 will discuss the remaining films.

The Up documentaries are one of those series of films that is hard to discuss without giving away the joy and revelations of what you are witnessing. Back in the early 60's, Michael Apted and company decided that they would find several kids of the age of seven from several different social classes and background from Britain. They would return every 7 years to discuss their lives and progress.

In this age of mass marketing television, and instant reality based canned drama, observing the Up documentaries is like being awaken to the first breath of air you ever tasted. You are right away introduced to several of the people and following their lives every seven years says more about the human condition than anything you could ever imagine.

Miraculously we only get to find out about the people in this film every 7 years. Viewers can only guess what might happen, and are shocked to find details that come about from out of nowhere. Take for instance Andrew, at his earliest he appears to be a precocious full of life kid, but by the time he's 21 he appears disinterested in everything. In contrast Nicholas' transformation from boy to 21 is almost unrecognizable, it doesn't even seem like the same person.

In the later films, Apted takes steps to show the old footage from the first film when the kids were at their youngest. You see the same images over again but differently each time and it has a marvelous effect. The future is to be told not far from now, but in the simple actions of what may have happened when a 7 year olds ideas were full of bright optimism. At 21 Niel seems to be fighting against something, but when the camera cuts back to his childhood skipping through the streets you can't feel hurt and deep inside and wonder what happened, or will this somehow fix itself??

One of the most surprising aspects happens accidentally. A rabbit on a wealthy estate is killed in the foreground by a young girls dog while being interviewed. When the interviewer asks does that bother you... death? The young 14yr old (if I remember correctly Suzy) provides an answer that seems chilling beyond belief. The films also have an unexpected effect of showing more of a criticism of the English school system, which seems like a caste society.

It would be unfair to explain what happens, it's more important to discover in a film series like this how you can see yourself in all these people, or know someone like Tony. Tony at 7 says he want's to be a jockey... and by golly... at 14 well... there you have it. He's a jockey. But it's hard to put in words what you witness in a series like this. The Up documentaries certainly set the stage for the life to come next, you'll cheer I am sure, be dissapointed, saddened, or highly content. The question becomes who will it be, and for me I can't wait.

The Way Things Go? Or is it just the way things are.

Taking everyday common objects that are familiar to all of us (tires, garbage bags, plastic bottles) Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss create a self "perpetual motion machine" to demonstrate... well what exactly?

Apparently numerous things that are at first quite obvious and then after awhile more telling than we might not have realized. Within a giant warehouse a continual group of objects either roll, jump, spin in a linear fashion. Some are done by gravity, others by chemicals and chain reactions from a lit fuse. As much as the experiment is a look at coincidence and the idea of movement, it's what isn't shown during the 30 minute run time of this film that makes the images and movement we see more cerebral.

At one point a ladder marches down a plank, it almost has a life of its own. Cuts fade away mostly from acid baths that seep into the rest of the machine. Everything just keeps going to such an extent you wonder if a warehouse could be big enough to capture all this marble madness.

Are the artists trying to show us the banality of movement? The glory of chance? The repetitive destruction of the mundane? Are we as viewers being manipulated somehow for a reason, or are we just witnessing a great carnival act that is wild and entertaining? You could watch this over and over again and come up with something different each time. That is one of the films great treasures.

Another great scene simply involves a cup that is rolling from side to side on a plank. Somehow it makes its way to its destination. But how? Was there mathematical possibilities built into the plank or was someone manipulating it all off camera? The answer really doesn't matter but "The Way Things Go" just does more than show movement, it really does force you through it's repetitiveness to ask you what is it you are exactly witnessing and what are the film makers trying to convey? When faced with that question it's a wonderful place to get lost in.

At just over 1/2 hour, The Way Things Go is a hypnotic escape from our everyday lives.