Genres

Visitors Review

TheUnknown837-1 2012-05-25 13:27:46

It engages the audience more than any documentary I've ever seen and leaves us with that profound and beautiful sensation that only the movies can give us.

A father and son document their lives caring for someone they love, whois stricken with cancer. A man steals from a grocery store. An elderlycouple, their hair pristine white, finally tie the knot. A young mantells his grandmother via a phone call that he is gay and that he hopesshe can come to love his significant other as much as him. A group ofwomen sing as they perform their daily duties. A photographer describeshis way of life. People walk, go to work, talk to each other, talk tothe camera, as they do in life. Because this is life. Life isextraordinary and life is mundane. And life, no matter from whatperspective we examine it, is mesmerizing. And Kevin Macdonald's film"Life in a Day" is all of that and more.This is one of the most enthralling, captivating, and magnificent worksof art ever produced by human hands. And that is the honest truth,since it was, in deed, created by hundreds of people. Some of themfilmmakers, most of them just ordinary Janes and Joes like you and me.Detailing what happened in their lives on July 24, 2010 and submittingtheir footage to Mr. Macdonald and producer Ridley Scott, they providedthe materials for a genuine masterpiece. "Life in a Day" is amasterpiece not because it is artistic or cared for with creativetenderness (even though it is). It's a masterpiece because it isunabashedly honest and personable. I watched the movie on its liveYoutube debut while it was simultaneously screened at the Sundance filmfestival. And for an hour and thirty-four minutes, I sat therecaptivated. Nothing could have torn me from my seat. Even though mostof what I saw was fairly ordinary, things I could see walking down anystreet in any town. Paradoxical as it sounds, the mundane ismesmerizing.In his movie, Mr. Macdonald and his hundreds of co-directors examineshuman life as fact and with honesty. He reveals the frailties,tenderness, brutality, horrors, and beauty of life in our world allwithin that short window of an hour and a half. It's so captivatingbecause it's all real and these are stories that many of us canidentify with, and others we hope never to. That's when the moviereally becomes a tear-jerker. Sometimes there are long stretches oftime on particular subjects, other times it's a montage accompanied bytruly wonderful, ear-worm music. There is so much that I want to sayabout "Life in a Day" but I must restrict myself. Because the moviereally has to be seen to be believed. I cannot possibly do this film'semotional and psychological justice simply by writing about it. All Ishould (and will) do is tell you my reaction, as I just have. This isone of my most personal reviews and it's fair because it's a personalfilm. It engages the audience more than any documentary could ever do(though I haven't seen "Shoah" yet) and it leaves us with that utterlyprofound and beautiful sensation that only a great picture can do. Eventhough it is very, very simple in a lot of ways. After all, StevenSpielberg once said "Oftentimes the simplest ideas are the best ones."He was right. Boy, was he right."Life in a Day" is a masterpiece.

Golf India 2012-05-25 06:04:28

Unremarkable YouTube mash

I watched this movie/documentary on the back of excellent reviews, andthe caliber of the director and producer. The subject matter wasinteresting, asking the web community to capture events happening intheir life or around them, on one day - thereby trying to captureglobally the essence of living. However it seems the scope of thesubject was too large, and difficult to condense and organise. As aresult there is no plot, and only a loose structure around the time ofthe day, i.e. rising of the sun, breakfast, lunch... with all sorts ofjumps to different subjects/locations/genres. That is OK if you want tosit through a random mish-mash of amateur clips, but I wondered whatwas the added value from 90 min of me surfing on YouTube. The answer iseditorial choice - it's all in the art of sampling, compiling andpresenting. To be fair, some parts were slick, but I wasn't sure aboutthe sudden jumps throughout, with no apparent link. Was the style meantto be impartial and objective / shocking, to drive a point home /partisan, representing a sanitised view of the world (big sponsorbacking through LG, who won't like a depressing story even if that wasthe reality of the user videos)? In the end, I felt the movie wastrying to be all things to everyone. It seems this explains thepopularity. But I failed to connect with the movie. Worse still, I feltreally nauseous from the jerky camera movements. I went to the cinemato be entertained, not to induce vomitting. If you must watch thisfilm, do it from a small screen. I wouldn't pay any money to watch itin the cinema - it's pointless.

tedg 2012-05-22 20:50:52

Snail Eats Label

Life in a day: The Scott brothers sponsor a film with YouTube. Isuppose the idea from YouTube's side is that ordinary people make filmsthat are real, and that allow us to deeply share humanity... the kindof films you can find on Google's YouTube.This film really is good, but it is precisely because it has whatYouTube cannot give: coherence and something like a zen long form essayon engagement. It is, in other words, composed, with themes, andblending; contradictions (but without comment); differences unified.Sound and song that binds; rhythms that you can understand throughoutas the rhythms of life.Some of the people you meet, you simply fall in love with, but thiswould not be the case if you saw them alone. It only works because ofthe composition, the story that we weave that bridges the thing. Someof the scenes were clearly shot knowing the whole, and that takes awaysome of the truth of the thing, and truth matters here. But thatintroduces only minor friction.The final shot could stand alone. I'm not sure if it is computergenerated or not: a snail progresses on a billiard-sized white balluntil it encounters a label that says 'mind your own business.' Thesnail eats the label. I think YouTube would like to brand itself as avideo FaceBook in the sense of allowing anyone to see anyone, with theassumption that everyone is interesting in some way. This is engaging and personal. The source material may well have comethrough a YouTube- like process, but what this shows it that you needlong form, a story and some talent to make things that matter.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Robert 2012-05-22 08:10:25

Wow...

Real life is scary and intense and hard sometimes. But real life isreal. There's no escaping it. You either accept it or... well I don'tknow. But a few years ago when YouTube/Google asked us, the people, tosubmit a video or two of our life on that day, I of course took thechallenge. Wasn't surprised to not see my video, but I'm sure mostdidn't see their videos there.This is literately just a series of videos people submitted. Some withmusic, others without. The sequence was what made this interesting. Itshowed early morning, then morning, afternoon and evening. They had afew questions they had answered, including what's in your pocket, whatdo you love the most, and what do you fear. The answers were mindboggling.I was amazed by what YouTube/Google included in the videos. Being in avery politically correct world where you don't offend people and thusreligion and politics are never mentioned, they included some. The onethat impressed me was a guy in a ranch with his son and wife, who saidhe loved his "Heavenly Father" the most. Reality. Some people arereligious, some aren't.There were a few scenes I'd rather had not seen, including animalcruelty, but I accepted it because it's reality. That's how life isevery day. There were scenes of people happy, some almost angry, somesad and crying. This was blended in perfectly. And they ended itbeautifully as well.I rate this 8/10 for a very well done sequence.

thecatcanwait 2012-05-16 04:34:04

I YouTube therefore I am

A mish mashy melange was my first reaction on watching this. Then iwatched it again and could see more coherence in it.It's structured around all the ordinary small stuff we have to do toget through the every day: waking up, washing, brushing teeth, shaving,making breakfast, lunch and so on.And then there's the bigger life-events like coping with illness,getting married, having babies.Questions are asked like, "What's in your pocket?" or "What do youlove/fear? A lonely guy loves his cat… another guy loves his fridge..another guy fears his hair falling out… a woman fears "not being amummy"… and so on..At times the editing is very fast: periodic montage sequences whizz bya conveyor belt of micro images like a Planet Earth ad break.But then there are several personal pieces that follow individualsituations. I liked these slower stories better, such as The post-graduate returning to Essex to catch up with his "old man"dad, both sat in the car, sharing a burger.The gay guy coming out to grandma on the phone ("I love you too" he'ssaying to her) And the sad scenarios: of the father lighting incense at shrine of deadwife – and the little sons perfunctory remembrance of his mother; orthe "Family project" of mother dying of cancer, trying to help heranxious young son make sense of it; or the thankful – tearful – Aussiein hospital after major heart surgery "I'll be out there again, doingcrazy things, and enjoying life" he says. But you sense he probablywon't.There's smiley bits too, like the Peruvian shoeshine boy; the rudewedding vows read by the English vicar.And some nasty bits, like the slaughter of cow, its throat beingslashed into to let blood – and there's a rapidly cut together montageof scenes of violence and fighting – deliberately rushed through so asnot to dwell too long. The shoplifting Russian/Slav is a bit dismayingtoo (firstly, that he's filmed getting away with it; secondly that theclip gets sent to be included in the film; and thirdly – that it isincluded!) Throughout, is the continual narrative thread of a Korean cyclingaround the world for the last 9 years – feeling homesick for Koreanflies.Come the afternoon outdoor pursuits – like skydiving out of planes –and Life in a Day has got to feel exhausting.So much packed in, so much to pack in. I think a million sub-editorswere needed to prune the 4500 hours of submitted footage into a mere 90minutes – just a blink of the Earths eye really.To begin with i was wanting not to like it, but come the end i was wonover. Out of all this mashed up diffuseness something cogent gotproduced. Although I wonder how much actual directing input KevinMacDonald did to it. It looks more like a cut and paste collaboration,the chopped up product of countless hours of endless editing – ratherthan something that's been singularly created.Question is, would selective clicking on any YouTube vids on any day ofthe year produce the same result? No, cus this is more of a polishedproduct. But watching a load of randomised clips would probably seem asarbitrary as this film feels. And the effect would feel similar:trawling in too much information just makes the net of your attentiongo saggy.I might watch this again one day (Unless they come up with another lifein another day next year) At the end – 2 minutes before midnight – there's a girl in a carbemoaning the fact that "I spent the whole day waiting for somethinggreat to happen….all day long nothing really happened…i want people toknow that i'm here…. i don't want to cease to exist" "I don't want to cease to exist". As long as you're seen on YouTube,you can pretend you don't. If you get my drift.

DICK STEEL 2012-05-15 14:49:47

A Nutshell Review: Life in a Day

YouTube, LG, Tony and Ridley Scott of Scott Free Productions, KevinMacDonald taking up directing responsibilities, and some 4500submissions filtered down to just 90 minutes worth of footage. That'swhat Life in a Day is about, where anyone from around the world cansubmit a film shot on 24 July 2010 and be counted toward what would bethis feature film that's just what its title says - Life in a Day - andthe end result is something so simple in collaborative concept, but sopacking such a powerful punch.From time to time you'll wonder just about how many stories are outthere at any given time, with millions of people each having somethingto say, and experience to share, that a snapshot at any time ofeveryone's collective existential moment will take us more than alifetime to go through it, if we can capture it all in linear fashionand sieve through it like a video on fast forward. That's how Life in aDay felt, although we're spared a largely impossible task, havingthings whittled down to just one day, and submitted through technologyto the producers of the film who will then have the task of distillingthe aesthetically beautiful, meaningful shots into a coherentnarrative.Beginning from the wee hours of the morning and ending literally at2359hrs, we see how people from around the world think up of similarideas in their submissions, capturing moments which become timestampsof the day such as meals and routine rituals that find common groundwherever we are in the world. Landscapes also become very popularchoices of capture, from dawns and dusks peeking through clouds, eachdifferent yet being the same the same source, to midnight electricalcharges striking across the night time sky.It's a mixed bag rolled up together from disparate sources put togetherin rhythmic, poetic terms, engaging and of course keeping your eye outfor something that could have come from your own shores. It showcasesdiversity, yet have undertones of similarity in aspects of our lives,highlighting differences in geography yet sharing a constant range ofemotions evoked and experienced. It's the human condition on displaywith all things almost beautiful, balanced with moments of poignancyand the mundane told through creative angles.From the lot given you'll definitely have your favourite - mineinvolves one very early on in the film with a Japanese father and youngson waking up in the day, shot through fish-eyed lens - or favourites,and I'm really curious if all 4500 shorts have been uploaded somewhereon the Youtube channel for everyone to freely access and take a look atthe raw footage ourselves. Recommended!

Ruth_91 2012-05-15 12:32:31

One word - amazing.

For an hour and a half, I sat back and experience Life in a Day - whatdo you think happened on July 24th, 2010? Out of 4500 hours of footage,coming from countries all around the world, featuring people of allages and walks of life, in all conditions of life, with all differentkinds of quality of film, the editors and film makers have createdsomething really special. It was an exploration of humanity. It spanned from the earliest hoursof the morning to the few minutes before midnight. It was amazing tosee how creative people can be. The simplest aspects of their day -things they consider ordinary - become extraordinary. There was somebeautiful imagery. It was filled with montages (it would have to havebeen - they had to be very careful with their editing and pacing), mostof which start of on a light note, but become more serious. A beautifulscore and a wonderful soundtrack compliment it. It's funny andheartbreaking and emotional and engages with the audience by allowingus to relate via the only thing every single person on earth can relateto - being human. Our humanity. Certain people were focused on. The man from Korea who has been cyclingaround the world for over nine years, having visited 190 countries. Hesays he's not from North or South - just Korea. He hopes forreconciliation. "The impossible is possible". A gay man coming out tohis grandmother. A couple renewing their wedding vows on their 50thanniversary. One of my favourite images was of people lighting floatinglanterns and sending them up to the sky. People were asked to say what they loved, and what they feared. It'snot all light-hearted. I've said this was an exploration of humanity -we get the full range of human emotion and experiences. Love, joy,fear, birth, marriage, celebration, religion, war, anger, despair anddeath. It wouldn't be human if there was no death. People with cancer.People admitting to fear death. Some chilling footage of Love Parade inGermany - when there was that terrible stampede in the tunnel. Peopleprobably went along thinking they would just film the festival. A newsphotographer showing us his home in Afghanistan, juxtaposed with a wifein America, waiting to skype with her husband, who is fighting the war.A montage of humanity at what I felt was its most violent, wild, crazy.I won't forget the last 'Life in a Day'. A woman who stated she waitedall day for something exciting to happen, but it didn't. Nothinghappened, and it often doesn't. Life isn't amazing everyday, she says.I'm not special - but she still somehow felt that today was specialanyway. She probably didn't even dream of making it into this film. Thefeeling that this film left me with was hope. So many people in thisfilm had such hope for the future. It's wonderful to see.

twilightasm15 2012-05-15 00:20:18

In a nutshell it was fantastic.

This film is incredible beyond belief. There's not much for me tocriticize at all. The flow of clips got ever so slightly offbeat...meaning it got a bit boring. Also I don't remember there beingsubtitles. I kind of want to know what they are all saying.I dounderstand that there were a lot of different languages and theyprobably didn't have the budget to translate so much for the release atSundance. I hope they subtitle it when it hits theaters in June. Iloved this movie with all my heart and when it hits theaters, I amgoing. Also when it goes to DVD I'm getting my copy. There isn't a goodreason not to like this film. It is happy, funny, heart-wrenching andoverall one of the greatest movies I have seen.

rlhron 2012-05-10 23:13:08

If you only see one documentary this year...

This film is a lot like Koyaanisqatsi, only Life in a Day also haswords to help tell the story. No matter who you are, no matter how muchyou have traveled, no matter what you have done in your life, therewill be something in this film that you have never seen before,probably several things at that. Not only is it amazing that the entire documentary was filmed by"everyday Joes", the editing is also brilliant. These stories, probably100 or more, mess together in a perfect fit, like a beautiful puzzle.The music is fantastic, spot on for every scene. And did I mention thetears? If you are not touched by several of these stories, then you arenot from this planet. You can find reviews of this film saying that this is just overrated,like watching someone surf youtube, lots of cell phone filming (whichis not the case), the story is just mish-mash and its only aboutpeoples everyday lives, nothing special about that. You should askyourself two things about these reviewers. Did they submit footage forthis project that was not used in the final film and maybe that is whythey don't like it? And two, do these people even know a good film whenthey see one? Do they consider "Transformers" the best movie ever made?"Life in a Day" gets my highest recommendation, no other film today ishigher. I'm not going to say this is the best documentary ever made,it's way to soon for that kind of talk. I'm just going to say thatafter you see this film, you will highly recommend it to others aswell!

bps3013 2012-05-10 08:40:08

Should have been 10 stars, had to deduct for Animal Death scene (SPOILER)

My wife and I were both absolutely engaged with this from the openingframes; funny, poignant, moving, this one was a winner and I couldn'twait to recommend it to friends and family.And then the cow slaughter scene hit and the feelgood express stoppedcold.I get the "day in the life of cultures all around the world" aspect ofthis project, but I have two questions: 1) Who in the FVCK sent in thatfootage in the first place, and what was the point? 2) Why did theproducers decide that it was important to include that footage in thefinished product? What could have and should have been required viewingfor everyone, of all ages, all over the planet was immediatelyrelegated to "Faces Of Death" status. Was the cow sick? Did it need tobe put down? Was it an animal experiment? Was it a statement aboutfactory farming? With no context by which to judge it, it simply hitsthe screen like a sledgehammer to the stomach. No warning. No rhyme orreason. If the producers were going for a "life and death" thing, thequick scene of the goat getting its throat cut should have sufficed.But to show a helpless cow trapped in a metal corral getting stunned inthe head (TWICE) and then getting stabbed in the throat AND THENwatching it bleed out was simply overkill in a bad way.If the significance of including such a graphic and depressing scene islost on me, I can accept that. I'm a realist. I don't live in a happyshiny bubble and I know that there are worse things than that thathappen on a daily basis everywhere. I eat meat. But what certainlyseemed like a celebration of human existence (its ups and downsincluded) was, in my humble opinion, tragically marred by this.

saternbaby 2012-05-10 06:05:53

Life as a Lie

I understand the need to drive home some kind of secular fantasy abouthuman unity in the technological age. I also understand that humans aredoing themselves no favors by building lies like this film in place ofserious discussions concerning just how intolerant, self-righteous,irresponsible, violent, perverse, delusional and diseased we are as aspecies. This will sound cynical to some. But I am cynical because Ihave no choice. I see wonder in the natural world, even as it ismerciless and savage. But humans are not wondrous. We are a part ofsomething wondrous. Big difference. A celebration of life by theliving, though understandable, is absurd. And the lie is that we aresome kind of global community that can "just get along".YouTube itself is an socially irresponsible corporation which allowsthousands (or millions) of children exposure to everything fromsimulated and real violence to soft and hardcore pornography. All onehas to do is go on to the site's homepage to see a giant ad for CaptainMorgan rum; look a bit further and see a wealth of videos promotingdrug use, fake suicide videos and countless human rears gyrating to theaggressive anti-musical strains of hip-hop. YouTube does more to bringignorant arrogance, nihilism and reckless hedonism to the world thanany other media source in existence. I have seen plenty of amusingthings on YouTube, but not once have I gone onto the site and beenspared from intentional offenses, disrespectful expressions and hostileattitudes. To utilize and advertise such a site is a moral joke incontext to the liberal BS of this film's major conceit.We are not one world. We are a bunch of messed up animals trying tocope with our own fears, doubts, prejudices, insecurities, confusionand immaturity in the face of technological evolution that iscompletely out of our moral control. Life in a Day is an amusingdiversion at best and a deceptive distraction at worst. Do yourself afavor and stroll away from this foolish herd and its pretensions.Discover something truly interesting and wondrous: the rest of thenatural world.

Houmatt 2012-05-09 19:36:06

The Best Film of 2011.

I had the privilege of seeing this film last night (though it took somedoing). I fell in love with the trailer, and the movie doesn'tdisappoint. Ever.Since the films that you see either part of or completely were filmedJuly 24 of 2010, a year ago, I would very much like to find out whathappened to some of the people presented.You meet a wife and mother suffering from what is apparently breastcancer. A Korean travelling the world on his bicycle. An army wifewhose communications with her overseas hubby results in her crying overmissing him so.Unfortunately, this footage is mixed in with unsettling footage ofanimal slaughter. One may question why this is in the film, but aspeople were asked to submit films of their day to day lives, there yougo.It is for this reason the film is rated PG-13, and is not recommendedfor small children or the squeamish.But if this film doesn't pick up the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature(let alone be nominated) next year I will no longer have confidence inthe Academy Awards.

billcr12 2012-05-06 01:46:19

Great expectations

Life in a Day shows ordinary people from around the world in a seriesof short, disconnected vignettes.A woman trying to sleep is awakened by her hyperactive son while herhusband tells the little boy to let his mother sleep. We quickly learnthat the woman is seriously ill.A young man calls his mother asking her advice regarding a potentialgirlfriend; another guy phones his mom to tell her that his good friendis actually his boyfriend. Both scenes end in surprising ways.My personal favorite is a man from Korea riding his bicycle in everycountry. This particular segment should be made in to a full lengthfeature.Alternating between tragic and comic, with beautiful photography, thisdocumentary should be nominated for an Academy Award.

roger-verdurmen 2012-05-05 17:55:46

Amazing insight into the way the world lives one day

Without a doubt one of the worlds best examples of co-creation or evencrowd sourcing if you like. How 4500 hours of film were carefullyjudged until 150 hours of film could serve as the basis for this 1,5hour jewel will never seize to amaze me. The film touches every singleemotion from joy to fear to disgust to sadness and relief, and does soin a totally natural way, probably as life itself does. Maybe somewhatbesides the point of the film but what struck me was the notion that inwhatever direction I would travel, except maybe slightly north, ingeneral people are worse off than in my country. You could say seeinglife on our planet makes me appreciate my particular life more.Probably it was about time something would...

rbferre 2012-05-05 14:15:30

Ordinary Wonderful World!

How many times have you wondered how a human being lives in anothercity of this planet? Not something we see in the movies, just aregular, ordinary, mundane, and simple human being.How many times have you thought how life is short and how you should doto get the most of it.Well, this movie is about these questions and much more. Using rawfootage sent by people from different backgrounds and 192 countries -which makes us think how powerful the media is - it takes to afascinating journey to witness a long needed reality check. Fascinatingin its own way, because the scenes you see are ordinary. And that iswhat the enchantment is... art from the ordinary.It is not a reality show, nor a fictional movie. Life in a Day isjust... Life. With all frustrations , discoveries, sadness, and hopes.Just life.I watched this movie not expecting too much. And boy was I wrong - thiskept me mesmerized for 94 minutes. And at the end, you will askyourself if you are doing the best from your existence in this planet.Not to be missed!

raybid 2012-05-04 23:53:46

Sometimes OK is worse than bad

An intriguing idea, and the makers should be applauded for trying it,but I came away thinking - "That was just like watching someone elsesurf Youtube for 90 minutes". Some of the clips were amazing, moving,inspiring, but so are millions of clips already on Youtube, and I getto choose which ones I watch to match my tastes.One major negative mark, the film contains 2 scenes of graphic animalslaughter, one is quite lengthy, I found this quite offensive, made mewish even more that I wasn't watching someone else's choice of clips.It was OK though, it held my attention, it was superbly edited, justfundamentally flawed in its conception, an experiment gone astray, butstill OK, but when a film costs so much to go and see, OK just isn'tenough is it? Go surf Youtube instead.

Josh Anderson 2012-04-28 00:03:37

Eye Opening Look into the Lives of People All over the World

The idea of taking footage from people all over the world is a novelapproach to a documentary. It creates an extremely candid and objectivelook into normal real life in our magnificent world. I have traveled alittle bit in my life, but a film like this still makes me feel like Istill haven't the slightest clue what billions of people live like inthe world. I want to watch this like 3 more times just to try and takeit all in. Though I'm sure the editors had a massive job cutting downthe submissions into this feature length, I still feel like watchingthis was like drinking from a fire hose. From eating and working toreligious practices and play times, from people's fears to people'sloves you see a remarkable representation of life on earth in one day.The downside to this film is that, because of its candidness, you seesome of the horrors of life like cancer, people being trampled to deathat a festival, a man who has just had open heart surgery. But it isbalanced by the beauty and adventure of life: birth, children at play,etc. At the end you will be left feeling like even if you are no onefamous, or you don't have much going on in life, you are part of thisplanet and your story is as significant as everyone else's. I have afeeling we will be seeing more documentaries and movies made like this,incorporating average people's footage.

ip man 2012-04-27 05:03:53

Making the ordinary extraordinary

Many of us struggle to experience something beautiful and extraordinaryin our lives, trying to do things which allow us to feel a littlespecial in the midst of our daily lives. What this film shows us isexactly the opposite - that the extraordinary in our lives lies in themidst of our daily activities, if we can just allow ourselves to acceptand appreciate our lives without any preconditions. We also discoverthrough this film that many others also share our hopes, fears,humanity and prejudices.I salute those who have shared their most intimate moments and privateexperiences with the rest of us for in having the courage to allowthemselves to be seen, they have shown us that it is possible to livethrough life's difficulties and still persevere - such is theresilience of the human spirit.You see the Japanese father and his young son living in an abject messand wonder why. Then you see them offering incense in remembrance ofthe deceased mother and you get that lump in your throat. There aremany other poignant moments - a young man telling his grandmother thathe is gay - you can almost hear her struggling for the right things tosay on the other end of the 'phone.This film is also about connection and what it is to be human. Despitethe sometimes blurry images, it succeeds extremely well - you careabout the people sharing their stories - because they are real peoplewith authentic stories, and not from the fevered imagination of aHollywood scriptwriter.Make sure you stay to the end to watch the final clip.It is probably the best movie I have seen this year - quite amasterpiece of experimental film making.If you only see one movie this year, make it this one.

fustbariclation 2012-04-21 20:44:40

Life in a Day is, unusually, worth the huge praise - it is truly brilliant! Sad, humbling, trite, yes, but that's us.

Wow! This has exceeded all my expectations - & I had a lot. It isn't afilm, it's an experience. If aliens were to watch any film abouthumanity, I'd want it to be this one. It is really sad, really happy,really genuine. We are such amazing, and (mainly) wonderful apes:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt16​87247/ We're so used to false,manufactured, artificial emotion in films that it's quite an unusualdelight to find the real thing.Yes, of course, any editing of so many clips has, perforce, a point ofview, an agenda, but I can't help feeling that this is a sound one, ahumanistic one. I'll have to watch it again - it just has so much, somany perspectives on what makes us human, what matters to us, what wefear, why we are what we are.I'd recommend it - humanity in the raw. Ourselves. What is best aboutthe film (given my comment above) is that it just is what it is (as faras is possible in such a duplicitous medium).I'll watch it again, and consider more what it really has to say - butmy first impression is that it is brilliant.Sad, humbling, trite, yes, but that's us.

Hellmant 2012-04-21 09:52:46

Somewhat of a groundbreaking experiment!

'LIFE IN A DAY': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five) This YouTube experiment documentary film was assembled from 80,000 userclips filmed in over 192 nations around the world in one day. ProducerRidley Scott and director Kevin Macdonald asked YouTube users aroundthe world to submit clips they would film of themselves (on SaturdayJuly 24th, 2010) to be compiled in to a feature length documentary film(sort of a time capsule video for generations to look back on for yearsto come). They received 4,500 hours of footage and users who's videoswere selected to be used in the film were credited as co-directors. 25%of the video used in the film was provided through cameras sent toparts of the world without that previous resource (in order to fullycover life throughout the entire world). Macdonald has said hisinspiration for the film was to expand the average YouTube video into'art'. Some have criticized him and Scott for being 'pretentious' withtheir ideals for the film while others have praised them. The resultingproduct is a mixed bag of art and entertainment that is sometimesmasterful filmmaking at it's best and equally boring and pointless atother times. As a whole I'd say it's a pretty impressive achievement.The film is just a series of clips from various YouTube user videosmixed together just as randomly, with no common narrative or storylines. Individual segments usually have a common thread linking themtogether but as a whole the film kind of just rambles on for almost 95minutes. At times it's very touching, intimate and beautiful and atother times it does seem pointless, uninvolving and dull. For this ithas been heavily criticized as well as praised. I'm sure which clipsare interesting and amusing to some will be boring and tiresome toothers (and vice versa). I think there's enough here to please morethan bore most viewers though (unless you just have a really shortattention span or ADD and are addicted to MTV style filmmaking). Ifyou're the type of viewer that needs each YouTube video to be twominutes or less in order to consider watching it than this probablyisn't the movie for you. With that said I do think this movie isprobably better viewed in segments. As a whole, no matter how big of anattention span or artistic patience you might have, it's bound to gettiresome in places. The segments watched individually wouldn't havethat effect though (this is true of a lot of other movies as well).The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2011 andthe event was streamed live on YouTube. It's now available on DVD andcan be streamed in it's entirety on YouTube for free. I submittedseveral clips to the film production that were not included in thefinished movie. Three were available for viewing on the page's site,along with most other entries (I deleted one though), and the otherswere not accepted because they violated one of the film's guidelines orrules, I think (I'm not sure which though). I think my clips areamusing and fascinating on their own but I can understand why theyweren't included in the film, they wouldn't really have fit well intoany of the montages. Having seen the film now I have a better idea ofwhat types of things I should have filmed (which more likely would havebeen included). I like the way Macdonald and team put the film togetherfor the most part and I think it results in something very beautiful,moving and breathtaking. Despite it's short comings I think the filmworks as a whole and is somewhat of a groundbreaking experiment thatshould be viewed by all and probably will be by viewed by many, fondly,for many years to come.Watch my 'LIFE IN A DAY' clips here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1rDIY0kLvk and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7WbpOnI3nYWatch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKd3ajZbngo