Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Stephen Gillespie ★★★★ 8

  I rarely divulge personal details in reviews on Letterboxd, more approaching films from an analytical angle and focusing on how the text reflects or comments on society as opposed to how it echoes or reflects me.

  I cannot really treat 28 Up that way. I can start by dealing with my misgivings: how the leading questions treat people as subjects for a narrative created by a person that is external to them (which is a continuing issue); how some of the questions are overly invasive, or seem inappropriate (at some points, encouraging and fostering dangerous attitudes or thought processes). Also, the one person I most wanted to see (the evil 14 year old that wanted political power) refused to take…

• 

  Review by AbandonChimp ★★★½

  Truly a shame that John chose not to participate in this installment. His face just gets more punchable as the series progresses.

• 

  Review by Marcissus ★★★★ 1

  So much for reviewing them all at 56. Families, daughters , wives, husbands, sons, the characters are multiplying, the lives are proliferating to an undocumentable degree, there is comfort now, stability, success, failure, at 28 years of age are these select few any closer to finding out what they want to do? 28 is past my age, so here we have glimpses into a projected future in both horrifying and mystifying ways. Do we lie to ourselves or do we change at such a rate we barely comprehend it?

  
  21 - Says she's too cynical for marriage, hates kids
  28 - Happily married (at 22), two kids

  21 - Says women aren't for him past one night stands
  28 -…

• 

  Review by Quintin ★★★★

  I can't be the only one that watches this and imagines how my life would be represented every seven years if I was part of this journey.

  7 Year old me... no idea... probably drinking tea like the rest of them.

  14 year old me would have been painful to watch. I would just talk about the reality show Survivor the entire time and show off my Survivor buff collection.

  21 year old me would have been me talking about my podcast.

  28 years old is coming up in less than two years for me and similar to everyone in this documentary, I feel like this was the most impactful. I got a stable job in my degree, met the love of my life and will be marrying her in less than a week. 28 Up really feels the most hopeful and beautiful film of this series regarding their early successes and hopeful goals.

• 

  Review by Taylor Leverage ★★★★ 2

  Those kids visiting the zoo in 1964 had no idea what they were in for.

  This film feels like we've firmly crossed the threshold into adulthood - the now-former children have each more or less settled onto a pathway in life, some with more satisfaction than others, and there's more a sense of reflection rather than possibility when they discuss their day-to-day lifestyles. This isn't the final stage of their lifestyle by any means, but it does feel like a point of no return has been passed now that so many have begun to establish themselves in their careers, or to begin families of their own. Interestingly, more so than the prior entries, you can sense the presence of filmmaker…

• 

  Review by nora ★★★★ 3

  bruce the love of my LIFE!!! it's a bit hilarious to me how drastically suzy changes every seven years, like what even is her life trajectory. good riddance to fascist asshole john! still obsessed with jackie pushing back at the sexism within apted's questioning. and neil ): absolutely heartbreaking. i'm also very into tony's burgeoning acting side-gig. it's also just nice to see how genuinely happy some of these people are in their lives, especially symon who loves being a father so much <3 anyway every new installment of this series is such a whirlwind of emotions i love it a lot!!!!

• 

  Review by teamgal ★★★★

  If Only...
  or
  Hindsight is 20/20: the Movie.

  1984, best of

• 

  Review by Deaner50 ★★★★★

  I thought this one was better then the last film I reviewed. It was better made with a bit better budget I think.
  Micheal Apted started with 14 seven year olds in England, film and follow those same kids as they grow up. Every seven years. It's a interesting experiment.
  We see a big difference and change in most of the people from 21 to 28, having been in the working world or getting married or having kids. Except Neil who seems to be struggling with mental heath issues.
  I still find the series interesting to watch.

• 

  Review by Matty ★★★½

  7 ✅ 14 ✅ 21 ✅ 28 ✅

  Time is crazy bro. Some of these kids from part one have their own 7 year olds now. 

  Bruce lost his teaching job after this came out for criticizing Margaret Thatcher. 😵‍💫

  Was not expecting Nicholas to end up in Wisconsin. Was interesting especially since some of the kids in 21 Up talked about how emigrating from the UK is immoral. 

  The three annoying rich boys are down to one because two didn’t even want to participate anymore lol. I wonder how much they got bullied because of the first few parts of this film series. And this was even before the internet. Their instagram comment sections would have been wild. 😬…

• 

  Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★★★

  What is the greater tragedy in 28 Up? The fact that Neil had become homeless, or the fact that Sue opted for such an unflattering perm?

  Of course this is arguably the one that everyone remembers precisely because of poor Neil. Those rocking back and forth motions he makes when Apted interviews him 💔

• 

  Review by FoundOnYouTube ★★★★

  8/10

  Shoutout to @dragonsblood23 for the request.

  Despite the good score that I've given it, this is going to be the last Up film I'll watch. The highs are high, but the lows are a slog to get through. Some of the participant's lives were far more interesting than others, and I had trouble keeping myself awake for the boring segments.

  With the criticism out of the way, let's get into the positives. From a technical standpoint, 28 Up is a vast improvement from its precursors. For starters, it has a properly organized structure, and it is not edited in a scatterbrained fashion. Each participant has their own individual segment, and their name pops up on the screen before it…

• 

  Review by Jose Castillo ★★★★

  "I don't even think to be honest that we even consciously think about it until this program comes up once every 7 years."

  Seeing the progression in everyone's lives is powerful this time around, it feels as if the world has exponentially opened up. I hope the best for Neil, someone who would benefit from some counselling and an influence to pursue it. I know it goes against the whole idea, but the crew could've assisted in some way i felt. He is an illuminating figure in this experiment as you see the foundation of his upbringing and how personal mental health still affects everything, but things were also considered differently in the 80s. I am endlessly delighted to follow Paul in fucking Melbourne Australia of all places! This entry is really well edited as it connects the themes and threads of each person's thoughts and drives over the years, and the quite nature of every segment I really like.