21 Up

Highly recommended. Much has happened since we last met these people; they've become adults between films. It's an amazing doc. My favorite from the series so far. When I've finished it (or caught up, that is), I'm definitely going to rewatch it.

I remain rather ambivalent. Certain characters are emerging as people whose futures I'm curious about: John the douchebag, Suzy the spoiled little rich girl, Tony the cabbie, Neil the squatter. Others I'm less curious about, although Apted often spends unreasonably long stretches of time with them. This installment does get a leg up in that a larger picture is being drawn, we can see more of a development through these peoples' lives. But there still isn't a ton of compelling material.

This is the first of the series that is really eye-opening. Not only are the subjects opinions formed as adults, but their lives have gone in varying directions as a result of life decisions they've made. I look forward to 28 Up.

I'm rating all of these a 90 because I see the experiment as valuable. These are normal people, for the most part, and some are interesting, some are not. Some of them have very bad problems, some don't. The prejudice of the film-maker is obvious, but what captivated me was whether or not we come to know these children, and later adults? I think we do, better than we ever will know Tom Cruise or Lindsay Lohan, no matter how many films they make. For that, for the depth of information, it's a 90.

Utterly gripping

Compelling entry is perhaps the moment where Apted's concept finally clicks into place - his subjects are far more eloquent and revealing than in previous entries and it is interesting as to how Apted presents the sometimes pretentious attitudes of his "upper" subjects in particular in a non-judgemental way, but still quietly probing from behind the camera. Unfortunate that this is apparently the last we see of Furneaux, as his quiet sparring with Apted provides one of the great highlights.

Andrew Brackfield: "Education is very important and you can never be sure of leaving your children any worldly goods, but at least you can be sure that once you've given them a good education that's something that no one can ever take away."

A concept so powerful that you could shoot it like a potato but it would still move you.

Neil, Bruce, Lynn

For the first time we start to see fully developed ideas about their lives and world around them. Some of the children aren't as interesting as others but the ones who are, carry the film. An ambitious project is bearing fruit.