I loved the Up series, despite having seen only 35up & 42up. For the uninitiated, this series was a pet "anthropological" cinematic project undertaken by director Michael Apted. In this series, he would revisit a group of British men and women and make a documentary film about their lives, every 7 years, starting from the age of 7. Of interesting note is the participant's differing social/ class divide; from the upper-middle class suburban homemakers to working class cabbies. (Note: 7up was originally only conceived as a television initiative if I'm not mistaken. But its underlying premise proved so intriguing, guess Apted just had to keep it going and see where it might end up. We are up to "42" now, nice....) My thoughts...These films might have shown mere glimpses of those ordinary lives, but I was still in awe of its premise no less. Like the flipping through of a moving photo album, we revisited the lives of these people. Within a two hour period, we saw these people grow up right before our eyes. We saw their physical and psychological transformation over the years. We saw how they charted their lives and lived it. We shared in their joys and tribulations. Of course, there were harmony, or discordance over those many long years. But this series was contented in just showing us simple truths. It captured vignettes of youth's idealistic beauty and inevitable follies. It revealed life's vaunted fulfillment and crushing regrets. Most importantly, it attempted to shed light on one's happiness barometer; how our pursuit of happiness and attaining contentment is directly corresponded with our expectations in the past, present, and probably beyond. We may not always tick like clockwork in this tragi-comedic mortal coil. But a rewind is often all it takes to get us back on track. This continuing Up series is thus IMO, a very worthy meditation on the meaning of our very own lives. I so wanna see what happens when those 7 year olds turn 49.

Yes, you CAN view 42Up without having seen 35Up, 28Up, etc. But it would be wrong. Because with each film, less of the past can be shown as each person's past increases -- thus you get only the highlights of each past: e.g., teenage Suzy's dad's death, which enormously affected her; the orphanage-reared Paul's move to Australia, and his marriage to an Oz woman with a big hearty family; Nick's move to the US -- with no class system surrounding him, he's been able to avoid what the rest are still struggling with, but is it worth the high cost of seeing his Yorkshire family no more than every other year?The participants were all born circa 1956, so age 49 will be around 2005. There are some pasts I hope we hear less of in 49Up: I don't want to hear any more about Tony's casual infidelities, thank you very much. His wife's reactions to his self-justifications ("I'm not proud of it, but every man does it"...that kind of lame excuse), and her silent yet profound unhappiness and betrayal, are excruciating. Besides, these days, infidelity is simply a welcome mat to self-transformation into a disease vector. But I would genuinely like to know how Neil descended into alarming solitariness and depression without getting therapy in what was then one of the world's largest venues for socialized medicine. (I hope by now he's been able to adjust his brain chemistry. Thank God for Bruce, another 'Up' man who befriended and helped Neil.)These people become so known to us that every seven years it's like renewing acquaintance. Such fame has not been entirely welcome, though Tony has been able to parlay it into parts as an actor. It must feel uncomfortable to have complete strangers know what you were like at 14...an age most of us feel sincerely relieved to have left behind. That the ones who continue to say yes to Michael Apted and his crew generally handle their filming with immense dignity and humor speaks volumes about their generosity -- and their curiosity. How are the others doing? How am I compared to seven years ago? What have I learned during those years? What can I learn from this episode?For the 'Up' people: thank you for your willingness to open your lives and homes, to answer intrusive questions, to demonstrate your values and what's brought you through, and to give us all a better understanding of what human growth is really about.

I cannot say enough good things about this series. Each one seems to interest me more as I follow the lives of the kids I first saw in '7UP'. '42UP' continues to show us how they have evolved as people and how the British class system still has control over their lives. As an American I find it somewhat hard to understand that the class you are born into largely determines your educational choices and therefore part of the outcome of your life. I strongly suggest seeing as many of the series as you can, (7UP, 14UP, 21UP, 28UP, 35UP) before your see 42UP. But as a stand alone documentary it is still excellent.

I've only seen "28 Up" and "35 Up". Those were fascinating interesting films, dealing with all types of people and all types of issues in their lives. At ages 28 and 35 people are trying to see where to go what to do, etc. By 42 they're all married or bringing up kids. So the whole movie is about dealing with marriage and kids. Fascinating if you're one of two--dull if you're not. It started off well enough, but it seemed to keep rehashing itself (if I had heard ONE more comment about how hard it is to make marriage work...). About half of it was interesting, and it always a kick seeing these people literally grow up, but it's run it's course. Let's hope there's not a 49 Up!