63 Up (2019)

“I wake up every day and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know where I will be in a month’s time, in six month’s time, a year’s time. ” – Neil

Number of Times Seen – 1 (23 Jun 2019)

Brief Synopsis – Once again, this series revisits the 14 children from the original documentary to see how they are all faring at the age of 63.

My Take on it – Back in December, I watched the 8 installments of this series that were made every 7 years.

Check out my overview of the entire series here

I was quite excited to learn that the next installment was due to come out this year because I was curious to see what would happen to these people in the intervening 7 years.

I feel as if I know these people so intimately after seeing them grow up from the age of 7 thru 63 and it’s still fascinating to watch them especially since it gives us so much insight into the lives of these people yet also reflects so much on our own lives.

The concept of this series is quite unique and allow us to get a great perspective on life since we get to see a group of people who started off on similar paths yet in the end chose different ways through life sometime meeting up with one another but most of the time going in their own unique direction.

On it’s own, this film doesn’t add much to the world but when seen within the context of the entire series, it says so much on some very profound and poignant levels because it reflects on how lives move along through time, just like real life.

It’s always interesting to see which of these 14 subjects choose to participate each time and they don’t shy away from asking them the difficult questions that pertain to why they participate (or not) and more importantly how does being in this series affect their lives and their perspective on the world.

I’m not extremely curious as to what the next 7 years has in store for these interviewees and don’t really want to wait until 2026 to find out, but like the rest of the world, I don’t have a choice.

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)

56 Up (2012)

Bottom Line – Another great addition to this series that helps enhance the perspective that we all can have on the lives of these subjects and more importantly on our own lives. Such a unique concept that is so fascinating to watch because we get insight into life from people who started off on similar pathways that diverged and sometimes met up again over the years. Once again though, this film on its own doesn’t add much to knowledge of the world, but when seen within the context of the entire series, it remains quite profound and poignant in its outlook. Always interesting to see which of the subjects choose to be interviewed in each part of this series and the choice to ask them why they participate gets some great answers from the various interviewees. Having to wait 7 years for the next installment will not be easy… Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Lynn Johnson died in May 2013, one year after the release of 56 Up (2012), the previous film in the series. She is the first participant in the series to die. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)