4800th Review! Genre Guesstimation – 56 Up (2012)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s Genre has been chosen by Quiggy of The Midnite Drive-In and it is Documentary Films.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Dec by sending them to docuquiggy@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Documentary Films.…

“It’s not quiet when WE get here!” – Debbie

Number of Times Seen – 1 (20 Dec 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A look at the same group of 14 seven year old children 7 years after the previous update on their lives when they were 56 years old.

My Take on it – This is the latest installment in the series and was filmed 6 years ago, so as of now, this is the most recent update of the story of the lives of the 14 children chosen 49 years earlier to participate in this fascinating study.

This is once again quite an eye opening addition to the series and might be one of the best as we get to see how their lives have changed over the previous 7 year interval.

We get an added bonus here of having two subjects who seem to have no connection previously choose to do their interviews together which says so much about how this series has affected their lives both on and off camera.

This unknown bond helps us understand that they each have some kind of need for a connection with some of the others who are experiencing the same chronicle of their lives over nearly a 50 year period.

This installment features lots of new challenges for the subjects including new ailments, family problems and even the transition to being grandparents as opposed to parents for even more of them.

The changes in work has also once again affected some of them as they get older.

It was nice to see that one of the subjects who refused to appear in the past 4 installments chose to rejoin the group and we get a full update of his life over that time.

This has been such a fascinating look at life and I can’t wait to see the next installment when it comes out next year!

Bottom Line – In the latest installment of this series, we get to meet the original children when they reach the age of 56. Once again, this is such an eye opening addition to the series and we get to see how their lives have advanced over the previous 7 year gap. This installment gives us an added bonus of having two of the subjects choosing to be interviewed together showing what kind of connections these people have been able to make with one another over the course of the films. There are obviously new challenges in all of their lives including new ailments, family problems and the transition to being grandparents instead of parents for some of them. The changes in work has affected some of them also in the intervening years. One of the subjects who hasn’t appeared in the past 4 episodes returns and it’s nice to get an update from him. Can’t wait to see what the next installment has in store for us when it is released in the coming year. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Like most of the other “Up” documentaries, this is scheduled to be shown in movie theatres in the U.S. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Absolutely! This is one of the best installments of the series and they keep getting better.

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)

If you missed any of the reviews of this series, check them out below:

Seven Up! (1964)

7 Plus Seven (1970)

21 Up (1977)

28 Up (1984)

35 Up (1991)

42 Up (1998)

49 Up (2005)

Roundup of the whole UP series (1964-2012)