Discover FOURTEEN and 3 More Dan Sallitt Movies for Free!

Thursday, May 14th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

UPDATE (5/20/20, 3:15 p.m.) We have distributed all of the allotted free screenings of Fourteen, per our agreement with Grasshopper Film. Fourteen is still available for viewing for a $12 rental price here. 50% of the proceeds from these rentals will directly benefit the UW Cinematheque.

While the UW Cinematheque's screenings at 4070 Vilas and the Chazen Museum of Art remain on indefinite hiatus during this challenging time, our programming staff is delighted to present a retrospective of independent filmmaker Dan Sallitt that can be viewed at home this week for FREE!

On Friday, May more than 50 arthouses around the U.S. will be partnering with Grasshopper Film to provide home screenings of Sallitt's new movie Fourteen for a rental fee, but the Cinematheque has arranged to offer a limited number of free home viewings of Fourteen. To receive your online link to view the movie at home, simply send an email to info@cinema.wisc.edu with "Fourteen" or "14" in the subject line. These virtual screenings of Fourteen will be limited to the first 150 individual responders, who will be provided a link to view online beginning May 15. 

FOURTEEN: Independent filmmaker Sallitt's fifth feature is an absorbing and deeply moving portrait of long-term friendship. Inseparable since middle school, Mara and Jo find themselves drifting down different paths in their twenties-Mara naturally eases into young adulthood, while Jo struggles with commitments and substance abuse. Through seamless temporal ellipses, Sallitt charts their lasting bond over the course of a decade of change. 

Fourteen has garnered rave reviews around the world since its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in 2019. Publications that have hailed Sallitt's film include Film CommentSight and SoundIndiewireThe Hollywood Reporter, and Richard Brody in The New Yorker.

Click here to view a trailer for Fourteen or scroll down to view at bottom of this page.

Plus, the Cinematheque is providing you the opportunity to discover the early features of Dan Sallitt with free viewings of his first three features: Polly Perverse Strikes Again!, Honeymoon, and All the Ships at Sea. Unlimited views of these three movies will be available for one week's time beginning Friday, May 15. You can view by clicking on any of the titles in this paragraph.

POLLY PERVERSE STRIKES AGAIN!: This LA love triangle comedy has been described by the filmmaker as a cross between Bringing Up Baby and The Mother and the Whore. Produced for far-out video art pioneers EZTV, Sallitt's rarest feature was shot on three-quarter inch analog video using money he saved from reviewing films for the Los Angeles Reader. "Quintessentially Sallitt-men and women scrambling, sometimes successfully, often not, to impose reason on the irrationality of desire" (Scott Foundas, The Village Voice).

Polly Perverse Strikes Again! from Caitlin Mae Burke on Vimeo.

HONEYMOON: Two friends impulsively decide to get married without having slept together, thinking it a romantic idea.  But at their lake house honeymoon, they struggle to make a physical connection, leading them into painful emotional territory. Shot on 16mm, this intimate and fearless indie exposes raw nerves through Sallitt's trademark precise dialogue.  "Not many movies are willing or able to hack their way through the tangled, complicated emotional territory of Dan Sallitt's Honeymoon. This funny, harrowing, lucid movie is so mature about sex and human relations that it puts to shame the bulk of what passes for 'adult' entertainment in American cinema. In its deceptively simple way, Honeymoon pulls off something quite difficult-namely, the illumination of the divide between expectations and reality in the lives of ordinary people" (Kent Jones).

Honeymoon from Caitlin Mae Burke on Vimeo.

ALL THE SHIPS AT SEA: In a lakeside cabin, two sisters-one a professor of theology, the other a member of a religious cult-have a series of philosophical discussions. Sallitt's third feature is an unusually perceptive and open-minded reckoning with the deep-seated influences of spirituality and family on our psyches. "The dialogue is absolutely wonderful, brilliant, discreet, moving. This man, Dan Sallitt, has really found his own voice, which is so rare" (Arnaud Desplechin). "A hypnotic study in differing beliefs and ways of explaining the world...to encounter characters this authentically self-aware and introspective in an American film is rare" (Scott Foundas, Variety).

All The Ships At Sea from Caitlin Mae Burke on Vimeo.

As if that weren't enough free content, Cinematalk, the official podcast of the UW Cinematheque, is back with a new episode this week, featuring an exclusive discussion with Dan Sallitt. Programmer Mike King's talk with Sallitt focuses on Fourteen and its production, Sallitt's development as an artist, and his evolving appreciation of French auteur Maurice Pialat. The talk concludes by touching on Sallitt's current viewing habits and passionate cinephilia, which you can learn more about on Sallitt's home page. Visit our blog here and listen in.

We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

Cinematalk Podcast #6: Dan Sallitt & FOURTEEN

Wednesday, May 13th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

On this week's Cinematalk, the official podcast of the UW Cinematheque, a conversation with writer/director Dan Sallitt.

Sallitt's fifth and latest feature, entitled Fourteen, is his first movie since The Unspeakable Act, which screened at the 2013 Wisconsin Film Festival. In the words of Cinematheque Programmer Mike King, Fourteen "is an absorbing and deeply moving portrait of long-term friendship. Inseparable since middle school, Mara and Jo find themselves drifting down different paths in their twenties—Mara naturally eases into young adulthood, while Jo struggles with commitments and substance abuse. Through seamless temporal ellipses, Sallitt charts their lasting bond over the course of a decade of change."

Mike King's talk with Dan Sallitt focuses on Fourteen and its production, Sallitt's development as an artist, and his evolving appreciation of French auteur Maurice Pialat. The talk concludes by touching on Sallitt's current viewing habits and passionate cinephilia, which you can learn more about on Sallitt's home page

Plus, learn about how to view Fourteen at home for free, along with three early features of Sallitt's: Polly Perverse Strikes Again! (1986), Honeymoon (1998), and All the Ships at Sea (2004). All of which will be available starting Friday, May 15.

Listen to Cinematalk below!

See DEERSKIN & SPACESHIP EARTH at Home and Support the UW Cinematheque!

Friday, May 8th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

While the UW Cinematheque's free screenings at 4070 Vilas and the Chazen Museum of Art remain on indefinite hiatus during this challenging time, our programming staff will be offering a series of specially curated movies that can be viewed at home. 

This week, in partnership with NEON and Greenwich Entertainment, the Cinematheque is providing the opportunity here to view two new releases that were originally scheduled to play the 2020 Wisconsin Film Festival: the fascinating new documentary Spaceship Earth and Jean Dujardin in the absurdist French comedy Deerskin.

A portion of the revenue from each rental will support the Cinematheque and our future programming efforts.

SPACESHIP EARTH: In 1991, eight men and women were sealed into Biosphere 2, an airtight terrarium in the Arizona desert containing miniature versions of various Earth ecosystems: desert, ocean, rainforest, etc. Partly inspired by the movie Silent Running and funded by an oil tycoon hoping to acquire licensable technologies for space colonization, the mission of Biosphere 2 was to maintain an isolated, sustainable environment for two years. It was a mission that led to significant ecological crises under the geodesic domes, including near starvation, polluted air, and a serious problem with cockroaches. Biosphere 2 generated a lot of press, but little was revealed about the people who created it. Using archival footage and new interviews with the surviving participants, Spaceship Earth follows the visionary countercultural collective over half of a century, beginning with early experiments and avant-garde theater performed around the globe leading up to Biosphere 2. If Spaceship Earth is a cautionary tale about the forces that threaten our planet, it is also an inspirational tribute to what a small creative group can achieve. Available for home streaming here. 50% of rental revenues go to support the UW Cinematheque.

DEERSKIN: Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and Portrait of a Lady on Fire's Adèle Haenel delight in this hilarious, shocking comedy, about a man so enamored with his new jacket that he vows to destroy all others. When he first gazes upon himself in a mirror, adorned in a vintage, fringe-covered deerskin jacket, all George can say is, "killer style." Turns out, he means it literally. Seized by the conviction that his should be the only jacket in the whole world, George starts collecting them, right off people's backs, whether they want to give them up or not. He finds a surprisingly loyal coconspirator in Denise, a bartender and aspiring filmmaker who thinks George's increasingly bloody campaign has the makings of a great movie (she's right). The teaming of Dujardin and Haenel is a joy, particularly for such a nutty, one-of-a-kind venture. This unsparing satire of a mid-life crisis has been variously described as "hilarious" by Indiewire, "hilarious" by The Playlist, "laugh-out-loud hilarious" by Film Threat, and "hilarious" by us in the first sentence of this paragraph. Available for home streaming here. 50% of rental revenues go to support the UW Cinematheque.

Check out reviews for Spaceship Earth in The New York TimesThe Los Angeles Times, and Variety

Check out reviews for Deerskin in The New York TimesRolling Stone, and The Wall Street Journal.

See below to view trailers for Deerskin and Spaceship Earth.

There are several opportunities to watch and participate in online Q&As for Spaceship Earth this weekend. Click here for more information.

And Cinematalk, the official podcast of the UW Cinematheque, is back with discussions about this week's offerings and upcoming Cinematheque programming.  Visit our blog here to read more and listen in.

The Cinematheque is also pleased to share online the UW Madison student-produced films in the first Communication Arts Showcase of 2020. Typically a program that helps to conclude our programming seasons, the Communication Arts Showcase films can now be viewed completely for free here

Go here to donate to the UW Cinematheque.

We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

Cinematalk Podcast #5: SPACESHIP EARTH + DEERSKIN

Thursday, May 7th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

On the first Cinematalk episode since January (and the outbreak of COVID-19), Jim Healy and Ben Reiser discuss what has been happening with UW film culture since earlier this year and what the upcoming programming plans are for the next few months.

Then, a discussion of Matt Wolf's fascinating new documentary Spaceship Earth, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is now available for home viewing here (beginning 5/8, 12:01 a.m.).

On the final part of the podcast, the Cinematheque's Kelley Conway and Mike King discuss Quentin Dupieux's absurdist comedy Deerskin, starring Jean Dujardin. Deerskin, like Spaceship Earth, was originally a selection of the 2020 Wisconsin Film Festival, and is now available for home viewing here.

Plus: Digressions on Bruno Dumont, Pauly Shore, and also the Spring 2020 Communication Arts Showcase, which can be viewed here for free!

50% of revenues generated from the rentals of Spaceship Earth and Deerskin will directly benefit the UW Cinematheque. Thanks for your support!

Watch THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD at Home and Support the Cinematheque

Friday, May 1st, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

While the Cinematheque's free screenings at 4070 Vilas and the Chazen Museum of Art remain on indefinite hiatus during this challenging time, our programming staff will be offering a series of specially curated movies that can be viewed at home. A portion of the revenue from each rental will support the Cinematheque and our future programming efforts.

This week, in partnership with Kino Lorber, the Cinematheque is providing the opportunity here to view a new restoration of an exciting piece of American independent cinema history, Nancy Kelly's Thousand Pieces of Gold.

THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD: Set in a mining town in the 1880s, Thousand Pieces of Gold is based on the classic novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn with a screenplay by award-winning filmmaker Anne Makepeace (Tribal Justice). Upon its original release in 1990, the film won immediate acclaim for its portrayal of the real-life story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao), a young Chinese woman whose desperately poor parents sell her into slavery. She is trafficked to a nefarious saloonkeeper in Idaho's gold country. Eventually Charlie (Academy Award winner Chris Cooper), a man of different ilk, wins her in a poker game and slowly gains her trust. Way ahead of its time, the film resonates even more powerfully today in the era of #MeToo. Nancy Kelly became a victim of prejudice against women directors within the American film industry and was never offered another movie to direct in spite of extraordinary reviews from critics, some of whom compared her talent to that of John Ford.

Click here to read a rave review of Thousand Pieces of Gold from Madison's Rob Thomas of the Cap Times.

Nancy Kelly herself wrote this excellent Indiewire article about how industry sexism halted her career after Thousand Pieces.

Click here or scroll down below to view a trailer for Thousand Pieces of Gold.

Click here, or scroll down below to view an April 29 Q&A with the stars and filmmakers of Thousand Pieces of Gold.

To rent Thousand Pieces of Gold, visit the Kino Marquee site: https://kinonow.com/thousand-pieces-of-gold-uw-cinematheque

To donate to the Cinematheque's Friends of Film fund, visit: https://cinema.wisc.edu/donate

We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

Watch SÁTÁNTANGÓ at Home and Support the UW Cinematheque

Friday, April 17th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

Earlier this year, the UW Cinematheque began our programming for 2020 with a mammoth cinematic event: a screening of Béla Tarr's complete 7 1/2 hour Sátántangó

Beginning April 24, the Cinematheque, in partnership with Arbelos Films, will be providing an opportunity to view the same 4K restoration of Sátántangó at home! A $14.99 rental for a 72-hour streaming period is now available for pre-order here. 50% of the revenues collected from these rentals will directly support the Cinematheque. The Cinematheque recommends an afternoon/evening viewing session, with two intermissions. Intermissions are built into this streaming home version,  at the 2 hours and 17 minutes mark, and at the 4 hours and 21 minutes mark.

One of the greatest achievements in recent art house cinema and a seminal work of “slow cinema,” Sátántangó, based on the book by László Krasznahorkai, follows members of a small, defunct agricultural collective living in a post-apocalyptic landscape after the fall of Communism who, on the heels of a large financial windfall, set out to leave their village. As a few of the villagers secretly conspire to take off with all of the earnings for themselves, a mysterious character, long thought dead, returns to the village, altering the course of everyone’s lives forever.

Shot in stunning black-and-white by Gábor Medvigy and filled with exquisitely composed and lyrical long takes, Sátántangó unfolds in twelve distinct movements, alternating forwards and backwards in time, echoing the structure of a tango dance. Tarr’s vision, aided by longtime partner and collaborator Ágnes Hranitzky, is enthralling and his portrayal of a rural Hungary beset by boozy dance parties, treachery, and near-perpetual rainfall is both transfixing and uncompromising. Sátántangó has been justly lauded by critics and audiences as a masterpiece and inspired none other than Susan Sontag to proclaim that she would be “glad to see it every year for the rest of [her] life”.

Sátántangó is being restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative by Arbelos in collaboration with The Hungarian Filmlab.

To pre-order your rental of Sátántangó, visit the Arbelos/Vimeo page here:  https://vimeo.com/ondemand/satantangouwcinematheque. During this challenging period, we value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

Please consider a donation to the Cinematheque's Friends of Film Fund. You'll find more information on donating here.

See BACURAU and Support the Cinematheque!

Wednesday, April 1st, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

With regret, the UW Cinematheque announces the cancelation of remaining spring 2020 screenings through May 3. The free screenings have been canceled out of concern for the safety of our community due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. This action is consistent with public health guidance to limit non-essential large gatherings. 

During this challenging time, the Cinematheque, partnering with Kino Lorber, is providing the opportunity here to view the superb Brazilian film Bacurau.  Originally scheduled to screen at the Cinematheque on March 27 as part of our Premiere Showcase and our ongoing series co-presented by the UW's Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies (LACIS) program, Bacurau is now available to stream in your homes.

BACURAU: Winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, this searing political riff on The Most Dangerous Game is the most talked-about Brazilian film of the year. An isolated outback community notices their town has vanished from digital maps, followed by the unnerving presence of a drone overhead. When a wealthy band of armed mercenaries (led by Udo Kier) starts picking them off, the underclass bands together to save what little they have. "A modern-day western with some of the raw, hallucinatory power of a Sergio Leone epic. Rich and extremely filling" (Los Angeles Times). 

While we will return to our free screening series as soon as possible, your $12 rental of Bacurau will help support the Cinematheque during this challenging period: 50% of all revenues will go directly to the Cinematheque's Friends of Film fund.

To rent Bacurau, visit the Kino Marquee site: https://kinonow.com/bacurau-uw-cinematheque

To donate to the Cinematheque's Friends of Film fund, visit: https://cinema.wisc.edu/donate

We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you soon in the proper cinematic settings of 4070 Vilas Hall and the Chazen Museum of Art.

Jim Healy, Director of Programming

UW CINEMATHEQUE CANCELS REMAINING SPRING 2020 SCREENINGS

Tuesday, March 24th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

With regret The UW Cinematheque announces the cancelation of remaining spring 2020 screenings through May 3. The screenings have been canceled out of concern for the safety of our community due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. This action is consistent with public health guidance to limit non-essential large gatherings.

The Cinematheque Programming staff is currently investigating the possibility of re-scheduling some of these screenings on future Cinematheque calendars. We value your support for the Cinematheque and we look forward to being able to watch movies with you in the near future.

This announcement affects the following previously scheduled screenings:

FRI., 3/27, 7 p.m.

BACURAU

SAT, 3/28, 7 p.m.

DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE

SUN., 3/29, 2 p.m., Chazen

BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE (FLANDERSUI GAE)

FRI., 4/10, 7 p.m.

THE WHITE SHEIK (LO SCEICCO BIANCO)

SAT., 4/11, 7 p.m.

JE TU IL ELLE

SAT., 4/11, 8:30 p.m.

NEWS FROM HOME

SUN., 4/12, 2 p.m., Chazen

HOUND-DOG MAN

FRI., 4/17, 7 p.m.

WHERE’S POPPA?

SAT., 4/18, 7 p.m.

LA CAPTIVE

SUN., 4/19, 2 p.m., Chazen

JEANNE DIELMAN

FRI., 4/24, 7 p.m.

THE COTTON CLUB ENCORE

SAT., 4/25, 7 p.m.

GOLDEN EIGHTIES

SUN, 4/26, 2 p.m., Chazen

MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW

FRI., 5/1, 7 p.m.

NIGHTS OF CABIRIA

SAT., 5/2, 7 p.m., Marquee Theater

COMMUNICATION ARTS SHOWCASE

SUN., 5/3, 2 p.m., Chazen

TOKYO STORY

The Stylistic Experimentation of VIVRE SA VIE

Monday, March 9th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

These notes on Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre sa vie (1962) were written by Dillon Mitchell, Ph.D candidate in the Department of Communication Arts at UW Madison. Vivre sa vie was originally scheduled to screen as a tribute to the late Anna Karina (1940-2019) on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. at the Chazen Museum of Art. In compliance with UW Madison’s policies enacted to slow the spread of COVID-19 this screening has been canceled along with all previously announced UW Cinematheque screenings through April 12. The Cinematheque Programming staff is currently investigating the possibility of re-scheduling some of these screenings on future Cinematheque calendars.

By Dillon Mitchell

Few films have challenged the language of cinematic narrative to the point that they necessitate new tools for understanding: Vivre sa vie is one of them. The third feature from French auteur Jean-Luc Godard, Vivre sa vie was released only two years after Godard’s now-canonized breakout hit, Breathless (1960). In many ways, it has become a more accurate signal of things to come for the filmmaker. Dense and challenging, Vivre sa vie presages the gleeful rejection of filmmaking conventions that will come to define much of Godard’s later work.

Despite its roots in the art cinema movement of the French New Wave, film scholar David Bordwell argues that Vivre sa vie – and Godard’s work at large – defies easy categorization as art cinema. Though commonly thought of as lacking universal governing principles, Bordwell identifies commonalities across art cinema as it positions itself against classical cinema: characteristics like a denial of causal relationships and narrative finality, overt commentary on the construction of narration, and a focus on filmic realism are examples of art cinema norms that he details. Gordard’s work is different, then, because it employs and ignores norms as it sees fit, sometimes changing its relationship to them on a scene-to-scene basis.

The defining feature of Vivre sa vie is its organization into 12 “tableaus,” chapters in the life of the central character Nana (played by late, iconic French actress Anna Karina, who was married to Godard at the time of filming and acted in eight of his films during the 1960s). This self-conscious structuring device offers audiences entry points into a narrative that is otherwise unconcerned with their comprehension of events. Bordwell writes that “the narration [of a Godard film] can be completely uncommunicative, leaving many permanent gaps,” citing the indeterminate time that passes between the tableaus of Vivre sa Vie as an example.

Style differs across the tableaus, each one distinct, marginally or substantially, from the others. Techniques may be present across multiple sections, but their execution and effect vary: shot-reverse shot sequences, for example, become an arena for Godard’s stylistic experimentation. From the very beginning of the first tableau, he circumvents traditional logic for filming these scenes by framing his subjects from behind – instead of seeing their facial expressions for an emotionally charged exchange, we’re denied access, made to grasp onto Nana’s out-of-focus mirror reflection in the background as a kind of anchor. Throughout, Godard finds new ways to obscure conversations and frustrate expectation. Another device that extends across tableaus is Nana’s point-of-view. The brief point-of-view shots shown in the fifth tableau are markedly different from the floating camera movement of Nana’s perspective in the ninth tableau’s mesmerizing dance sequence. Despite their shared technique, both moments capture Nana’s subjectivity with different means to different ends.

It is Nana, whose struggles for agency punctuate the tableaus, that bind this obtuse, fragmented narrative and stylistic system. Vivre sa vie opens with a quote from French philosopher Michel de Montaigne: “Il faut se préter aux autres et se donner a soi-même,” roughly translated in the English subtitles to, “Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.” Across the 12 tableaus, Nana’s increasing inability to balance that interpersonal dynamic in patriarchal society defines her trajectory; the film’s style, despite its lack of internal unity, frequently coheres around this idea.

Some of the film’s most affecting moments come when the form serves to highlight Karina’s performance. An early tableau features a short interrogation of Nana by a police office. Godard shoots her in medium close-up and close-up shots, her face oriented directly toward the camera in a straight angle. As she recounts her story, however, her eyes are fixed on the ground, her gaze only rising to meet the camera sporadically. In those moments, Nana’s façade threatens to break: Karina’s eyes run wild while her face remains still, and Godard never pulls away to show the officer’s reaction while she speaks – only to ask her more questions when she is silent. The tableau ends when Nana eventually doesn’t have an answer for the question posed. She looks off-screen, desperate for an escape that the claustrophobic framing does not offer.

A lack of formal consistency across the film does not necessarily amount to meaningless style. Though Godard may be popularly known for his love of “style for style’s sake,” the range to be found in Vivre sa vie does make for powerful moments united around Nana. Vivre sa vie is a film that rewards repeat viewing, not because it is meant to be solved, but because it offers so many details to pore over and appreciate each time. There are moments of familiarity, elements recognizable from both the art cinema and classical cinema traditions, but it presents an experience wholly unlike another single film.

 

63 UP: Shaping Ordinary Lives

Monday, February 17th, 2020
Posted by Jim Healy

The following notes on Michael Apted's 63 Up were written by Matt St. John, PhD Candidate in UW-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts. The Cinematheque will present the only area theatrical screenings of 63 Up on Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, February 22 at 2 p.m., in our regular venue at 4070 Vilas Hall. Admission is free for both screenings!

By Matt St. John

Across the nine installments of Michael Apted’s Up series, Tony, an affable East Ender and aspiring jockey-turned-taxi driver, has offered countless jokes and anecdotes, but the most memorable of all might be the story of his chance encounter with the astronaut Buzz Aldrin. In 56 Up, Tony describes a day when he happened to pick up Aldrin in his cab, and a passerby asked for an autograph. Tony conveyed the request to Aldrin, but he was shocked when the fan clarified that they wanted an autograph from the documentary participant, not his astronaut passenger.

Tony and the other subjects of the Up films may not have walked on the moon, but they are widely recognized after first entering the public eye in 1964’s Seven Up! and returning for updates (in most cases) every seven years since. If you’re new to the series, it may seem like a lot to catch up on. Fortunately, Apted and Kim Horton, who has edited the films since the fourth entry 28 Up, integrate archival footage from previous films into each interview segment, refreshing familiar audiences on the participants’ stories and bringing new ones up to speed.

Granada Television’s initial film Seven Up! profiles fourteen British children who are seven years old. The film includes interviews about their plans and goals, as well as observational footage when they spend a day visiting a zoo and a playground. Inspired by the Jesuit proverb “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man,” Seven Up! posits a central question of whether the children’s class backgrounds will determine the trajectories of their lives, but the scope of the series has expanded from this limited frame of the class system. Michael Apted, a researcher on the first film and the director of the other eight films, has returned every seven years to profile the participants, although they do not always agree to appear (of the fourteen original children, Charles has not been in any of the films since 21 Up, and four others have declined to participate at least once). Apted’s questions still touch on class often, but the focus has gradually broadened, resulting in a documentary series about the choices and changes that have shaped a set of ordinary lives, from the significant to the seemingly mundane.

Over the years, Apted and his subjects have discussed innumerable topics related to their lives. Conversations have covered local theater, libraries, home remodels, Bulgarian charity work, arthritis, divorce, and death. Sometimes Apted and Horton must disregard the recommendations of newer producers in order to include the elements of daily life that have defined the texture of the series. In a 2019 New York Times Magazine profile, they recalled their frustration at a note that Sue’s dog should be cut from the film. With so many subjects and their wide range of hobbies, interests, and experiences, it’s no surprise that fans of the series have favorite “characters.” The trials and accomplishments of Neil’s life have created a compelling dramatic narrative for audiences to catch up on every seven years, and Nick is certainly a local favorite, a professor who lives in Madison and has been interviewed here for every film since 28 Up. The cast has expanded over time, with the wives, husbands, kids, friends, and pets of the original participants appearing across installments, often taking part in the interviews themselves.

Apted’s questions and the taxing nature of the project in general strain his relationships with the subjects at some points. In multiple films, Jackie has understandably confronted him about the portrayal of her and the other working-class women. John will no longer speak with Apted and is instead interviewed by producer Claire Lewis, who has worked on the series since 28 Up. Like any long-lasting relationships, Apted and his subjects have their ups and downs, but most of them display a warmth and familiarity in their convervations with him, even when they fight, and especially as they have grown older.

Aging appears as a major concern of the reflective interviews in 56 Up, but that theme becomes more central in 63 Up. This film finds the participants facing their own mortality, not just that of their parents or loved ones (a trauma that’s weighed on the series since 28 Up and 35 Up, when multiple participants experienced the death of a parent). It’s a new and necessary direction for the films. Mortality seems an inevitable theme, as the series continues into the later adulthood of its participants, but the shift is still a shock. Apted and his subjects confront this change with sadness and candor, maintaining the intimate interview style that has marked the series for over five decades. While 63 Up remains extremely personal, it also addresses national problems and politics more directly than most of the films. The uncertainty of Brexit is a thread throughout the film, as well as concerns about opportunities for future generations, like Sue’s comments about the struggling National Health Service.

As the Up series has progressed, the popularity of the documentary project and its participants has also been mentioned more frequently in the films. The 2019 premiere of 63 Up on British television was even accompanied by a new promotional special titled 7 Up & Me, which observes a number of celebrities, including Richard E. Grant and Michael Sheen, watching and responding to clips from the program. The series enjoys a popularity usually unreached by fairly sober documentaries, and it has long been highly acclaimed, with Roger Ebert once calling it the “noblest project in cinema history.” In a move familiar to long-time viewers of the series, which often sees participants amending their comments from past films, Ebert later referenced that statement in his review of 56 Up: “I am older now and might refrain from such hyperbole. But we are all older now, and this series proves it in a most deeply moving way.”

Journalists have repeatedly asked Apted about the possibility of more Up films, and his responses have been mostly hopeful, although he has referenced his own age, now 79. In an interview with Slant Magazine, he said, “I’d like to go on for as long as I am above ground.” As for the participants, they regularly express ambivalence or even disdain toward the series, but most of them keep returning. Regardless of where the series goes from 63 Up, if indeed it does go anywhere, Apted’s films stand as a uniquely ambitious project. The films are remarkable for their scope and their unmatched attention to ordinary lives –– lives that have been bravely (if sometimes hesitantly) shared, ever since fourteen children happened to be selected by their teachers and a television crew.

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