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14 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
The Man, 23 February 2004
10/10
Author: Cineanalyst

"Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man," goes a Jesuit proverb, which the 'Up' documentaries quote. Every seven years, Michael Apted interviews the same Britons to see how they have changed. '28 Up' is the fourth installment of the series--the interviewees are now each 28 years old. The children are now the men, or women. It's not necessary to have seen, or recall, the previous installments of the television series to watch this episode, because the filmmakers intercalate clips from previous episodes with the new scenes. Via film editors Kim Horton and Oral Norrie Ottey, '28 Up' stands well by itself. We're timely shown how the interviewees have changed.

The proverb seems oft to hold true, but there are some surprises. Suzi, for example, was "very cynical" about marriage as a 21-year-old chain-smoker, but at 28 years old is a cheerful wife. Tony, however, said he wanted to be a cabby if he didn't succeed as a jockey--now he is a cabby, and he seems happy.

Besides examining their individual lives, the series also examines the differences among socioeconomic classes in Britain. John, although he didn't participate in the show at 28 years old, made two interesting comments on class issues in previous episodes (viewed again in '28 Up'). He said it "doesn't mean because you sweep the streets you're any less valuable than someone who's running a huge corporation. Not everyone can be at the top. As long as people are happy at what they're doing." John is from the upper classes and attended a private school. He went onto say, "And this is what worries me about these new sort of invidious sort of class attitudes that certain subversive elements are introducing...."

Class issues don't seem to bother most of the cast; most of them seem content with their role in society, as John advocated as the "greatest good that could be." Yet, John is also a bit of a snob. Contrastingly, Bruce is a socialist from the upper classes, and he is now teaching math in a public school.

Women's role in family and society is another issue examined in the film. Jackie, Nick's wife, discussed how she and her husband might balance work with children. Jackie (a different one), Lynn and Sue are the program's three working-class women. They're all married now, and they characterized marriage as a partnership of equals. Jackie has decided not to have children, at least not yet.

Inevitably, some of the interviewees are more interesting than others are. For example, Symon (who had the misfortune of being the last interviewed) was boring. At 21 years old, he was working in a freezer room; he said, "I couldn't stay there for that long--my mind would go dead." He's still working there at 28 years old. It wasn't apparent to me that his mind had died, but perhaps the job has caused him to appear dull in this segment.

Finally, Neil, lanky, serious-minded and depressed, is to me (and many other viewers) the most interesting person of the gang. Neil is now a tramp traveling around Britain. The most memorable sequence of the film is of Neil nodding nervously as he sits by a waterfront, discussing his life and past, hesitating often as he thinks about how to better articulate his thoughts, or to reflect on his thoughts before he is posed another question.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
An ingenious way of observing the journey of life., 15 June 2002
8/10
Author: john zapata from los angeles, CA

28 Up is the fourth installment of a series of British documentaries concerning fourteen British people. They were first interviewed when they were seven, and every seven years, the filmmakers track them down to find out how their lives has progressed. Michael Apted started directed the series on 14 Up and will continue to do so every seven years until his subjects are all dead or refuses to be interviewed. The concept is extremely original; it is very captivating and often fascinating because these are real people, and most of them are engaging characters with something good and interesting to say.

At seven years old, they were asked about their dreams and ambitions. Majority of them are very eloquent at seven and manages to give straight answers. At fourteen, their goals in life are pretty much set, and they were asked what college they want to go to and if they still have the same ambitions. At twenty-one, we begin to see which ones are fulfilling their dreams and which ones are struggling. One can know these without watching the first three installments because excerpts are intercut along with the twenty-eight interviews. This creates a very pleasing effect because we can see how they changed and also spot the shifts of emotional states. A woman named Suzy was obviously in an ill state at twenty-one because she is chain-smoking and does not seem happy; at twenty-eight, she is now settled down with a husband and a good family.

One of the most interesting characters in the documentary is Neil, an outcast who constantly moves to find a job. He is currently living in a small trailer beside a Scottish lake without a job and without friends. He provides us with the most compelling and touching moments of the whole movie. From footage of the previous documentaries, we can see how Neil has changed. At seven, he appears smart and clear about what his dreams are. At twenty-one, we see him as a dissatisfied and angry man, blaming his parents for his misfortunes. Now at twenty-eight, he openly apologizes to his parents and admits that he was wrong. The images they captured are somewhat haunting; we see Neil alone in his trailer and beside the lake, obviously not in a contented state.

It's amazing to see how much the twenty-eight year old person is reflected in the seven-year-old one. In one of the interviews, a boy shows intelligence at seven and wants to do scientific things; we are not surprised that he is now teaching college-level physics in America. Another boy claims that he wants to be a jockey, and although he did try it for a while, it's not unlikely that he now works as a taxicab driver.

A small drawback in the documentary is it gets monotonous at some points. Although most of their comments are interesting, some of them are just repeating what the others said. Apted asks almost the same questions, and because most of them have settled down and started a family, their answers are relatively similar. At 138 minutes, it appears a little stretched and could have benefited from a better pacing. With the few exceptions of persons like Neil, who have a unique story, the others had the same path and are now satisfied with their lives.

Apted, who is more known for motion picture credits like Coal Miner's Daughter and more recently, The World is Not Enough and Enough, makes a wonderful transition in employing his talents to documentaries. This project could have been a disaster because they could have chosen boring people as subjects, but Apted manages to draw out compelling statements and fascinating developments. The editor does a great job in inserting the excerpts from previous episodes and matching them with the new comments. I'm looking forward to watching 35 Up and find out how long this series could endure. I have never seen anything like this before, and I give the creators credit for coming up with an ingenious way of observing the journey of life.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
At 28, each is hitting his or her stride in life., 17 February 2006
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

Michael Apted must be congratulated for having (or perhaps stumbling upon) the vision for this study. Begin with 14 seven year olds in England, film them in a few interesting situations, and follow those same kids as they grow up. Every seven years. Because all of our lives transpire at roughly the same rates, we cannot actually observe children growing up. But this filmed approach is the next best thing.

In this film we get to see (most of) the same children at 7, 14, 21 and 28. Just as we saw a great difference from 14 to 21, again we see a great difference from 21 to 28. Having been in the working world for 5 or 6 years, most married and raising families, they no longer look and act like the searchers we saw in earlier films. Except for Neil, who at 7 seemed to be the brightest and most expressive, to a 28-year-old that never knows if he will be homeless the next month. As dramatic, in the opposite direction, was Suzy who went from a disenchanted dropout to a happy wife and mother. Still, in each subject we can identify characteristics that have stayed with them as they grew up.

We still see how the "process" has influenced the "product." To a good degree, who they are at 28 is a product of having been in the "UP" series every 7 years, and the internal pressure to be worthy for the world to see them.

This and all the others through '42-UP' in 1998 are on the 5-disk DVD set just out. ("49 UP" has been made but is not yet available on DVD.) However, simply seeing the most recent film (42-UP or 49-UP) is pretty good, because each film contains snippets of each of the former ones, allowing us to see how each child developed in 7-year increments.

Just a marvelous study of growing up.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Us and Neil, 10 February 2010
10/10
Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

In 28 Up, it seems like the 'the Man' part of the 'Give me a Child' bit that is quoted in every Up movie is starting to take shape, for the men and women. Or, at least, most of them. We see the gradual progression of life start to take shape: careers, over the course of the people's 20's, have been sought out, and they've gotten married and/or had children. Some, in fact, who weren't married before have been changed for the better it would seem by being married (i.e. Jackie), and some aren't living in Britain anymore (one is a physicist living in America with his wife, another has lived in Australia for quite a long time).

The series in this 'episode' film centers around the real progress into adulthood, and how the interviewees now feel about how their lives, loves, careers have progressed. A given topic that comes up is how they think they've changed since being in the first film at seven, and the consensus, a strong one presented, is that a person is at least, potentially, there at the age, but needs to grow (like a seed). It's fascinating too to see how the children in groups have progressed about as expected, or with some relativity. For example the three boys, now adults, sitting in the same line (albeit one of them declined to be interviewed, ironic since he works for the BBC in 1985), one of whom a prissy, upper class citizen, and another not so much, based on hair-length perhaps.

In general 28 Up seems to view the subjects as they would be naturally by this point as adults, and some, like the bricklayer, revealed how they might turn out when let loose in the 'playground' at age seven, some building a house and some, well, not (another fascinating subject like this is the former jockey turned cab driver). And yet a good deal of these subjects, at least for the moment of 28, look set for their life, either with a current wife or kids or a steady income at something they've worked for... which brings us to Neil. He's the one who, at 28, has no current prospects, who was happy as a child but now is disillusioned to the fact that he doesn't have a career or much of a life, but in a way is fine with that (he applied to Oxford, but didn't get in). He's the stark, fascinating contrast that gives 28 Up a great sense of depth. The class system in Britain, or just in how it sets up these kids, is revealed in the highs, mediums and lows of living, and Neil is certainly a low, but not feeling bad about it (at the least, he says, he can eat now, unlike some years before).

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28 Up, 10 January 2012
6/10
Author: Martin Teller from Portland OR

The highlights here are Nicholas and his relocation to Wisconsin and Neil continuing down the spiral of depression. Other than that, most of the subjects have just settled into comfortable, and somewhat mundane, lives. I was disappointed not to get more of John's douchiness, but he declined to be interviewed, as did one of the other rich (but far less douchey) kids. It's amusing to see the way Apted keeps trying to badger his subjects into expressing some kind of rage against the upper class, yet they're having no part of his agenda. They all (with the exception of Neil) seem quite content with their standing. I've decided to soldier on with the series, mostly because I've already invested so much in it, but I also remain curious about a few of the subjects.

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Unique and amazing series of films, 26 February 2011
10/10
Author: runamokprods from US

The 'Up Series' represents one of the most fascinating and unusual uses of film in cinema history - a documentary life-long chronicle of the lives of 14 people starting at 7 years old, revisiting them every seven years through age 49 (so far).

While I could quibble, wishing for a bit more depth here and there (especially with the women, where there's a bit too much emphasis on love and marriage at the expense of all else), it's really an astounding, moving, frightening and uplifting document. There's no way to watch this remarkable series of films without reflecting deeply on one's own life, and how you have changed (and stayed the same) over your own lifetime.

While Michael Aped deserves every bit of credit he's received for this amazing piece of cultural anthropology, it's important to note this first film, 7 Up,was actually directed by Paul Almond, and Apted was a that point a researcher for the project.

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the voyage of life, 11 January 2011
9/10
Author: Michael Neumann from United States

"Give me the child until he is seven, and I will give you the man." So goes the old proverb, and the proof is in this fascinating documentary, the fourth chapter in an ambitious, ongoing epic of non-fiction filmmaking already two decades in the making at the time.

The project began in the middle 1960s as a modest examination of English class divisions in a group of seven-year old children from different social backgrounds, and has been updated every seven years to show their progress through adolescence to young adulthood. Each individual biography resists the pre-determined notions of (specifically English) status and privilege around which the entire cycle of films is based, becoming instead a record of the same, sometimes rocky path to maturity followed by everyone, regardless of upbringing. At age seven every child is carefree and impressionable; at fourteen most are sullen and inhibited, uncomfortable in puberty; at twenty-one they are, by degrees, poised to reach their potential: eager and naive or cynical and confused.

And by age 28 their niche in society has been secured, for better or (sadly) for worse. The candid self-analysis, and the range of insight and opinion, makes the film (individually, and as a series) an invaluable document of human growth and development, as well as an irresistible reminder of our own personal destiny.

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Disappointing, 13 February 2010
4/10
Author: asc85 from Mercer County, NJ

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I originally saw 49Up, which led me to want to see 7Up and 7 plus 7. And I liked 21UP enough to want to see 28UP. And this one, for whatever reason, was a bore. Whether that's a function of what is happening to the people at 28, or a function of Apted's direction and editorial choices, I don't know. All I know is that I was pretty bored within the first 20 minutes of the picture, and at over 2 hours and 15 minutes, I knew I still had a long way to go.

Of course Neil is the most compelling of the players, and I got a kick out of Suzi's transformation from 21 to 28! But other than that, I thought it was all pretty boring.

I'm sure I'll see 35UP and 42UP to catch up to the series, but after 28UP, I'm much less motivated to do so.

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1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
General idea better than final results..., 24 May 2009
6/10
Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Filmmaker Michael Apted's pet project for British television (released theatrically in several countries) is an occasionally fascinating, sometimes boring documentary which spans many years as Apted interviews a handful of British schoolchildren in the 1950s, catching up with them again eight years later and so on until the kids have reached the age of 25. For the sake of cinema, it is a shame that the subjects whom Apted initially chose for his portrait turned out to be such colorless personalities. There are a few tragedies which unfold with the heartrending beauty of fictional melodrama, yet this installment runs out of intriguing moments long before it is over. Apted is to be commended, nevertheless, for a brilliant cinematic idea. Followed in due time by "35 Up", "42 Up", "49 Up". **1/2 from ****

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2 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Disappointing, 25 June 2007
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

I got hooked on these. The first one was only mildly interesting, a sort of necessary toll. Everything of interest in it is repeated later, but it was a solid reference for the editions that followed. The next two editions were absolutely captivating.

There's something about that period before you become an adult, a time when switches could flip, butterflies can affect. The conceit of the series is that the British class system is deterministic. So the game in the first films is in engaging with these people in support. We send wishes into the ether, attempting to reach across space and time. The don't grow up until we see them and when they are restricted, it is because of constraints we allow.

Any failure at this stage, any flaw in character is in part our responsibility. So we experience a blizzard of minor successes and defeats. Each person is a collector of urges, each a measure of a successful or failed society. These two (14 up and 21 up) were engaging films.

But by now, these are genuine adults. What errors in formation that could be influenced by our surrogate parenting have already set. Now they are simply beings. The only mildly engaging of these souls is Neil, a bum on the dole. Everyone else is no more now than someone ordinary that you encounter in life, each on their own path, working on narrow futures beyond our control.

The major difference is that some have some things to claim over the others. Different things, but each presented in comparison.

I wonder if I can stand the investment of what comes next.

Following this, you are following Apted as he grows in skill, insight. What he looks for as signs of maturity. I hope he is up to the task. His other films seem to imply that he is one of the failures, that our urges, wishes, prayers didn't reach him.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

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