Jackson Booth-Millard
Life in a Day was a fascinating worldwide documentary, and after it was shown on the BBC an advertisement appeared straight after telling the British public to film themselves on another set date for this follow up, from producer Sir Ridley Scott (Thelma & Louise, Black Hawk Down). A project was launched on the BBC, on behalf of worldwide video sharing website YouTube for people in Great Britain to film themselves for one day, the same day - 12th November 2011, explaining the life that they live and showing us what they get up to, it could be seen as a film version of a time capsule. 11,526 videos were submitted to the website, with hours of footage from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and from the 314 different perspectives chosen and edited down there are many enlightening and most interesting moments in the lives of the people in the country who participated to create this interesting documentary about what it means to be human in the United Kingdom today. Footage includes the mundane to the monumental from the various people, including getting out of bed, breakfast time, getting dressed, going to work, farming, fishing, marriages, travelling in various transports, people visiting people, gay cruising, family communication at home and on home devices abroad, days out like a theme park, a night out, or just simply showing Britain (and the world) that you existed. All participants could do whatever they wanted in their video, and this obviously meant people could show all joyful and sad emotions and moments, they could swear, and many other illuminating glimpses of human experience. It is highly likely that this follow up was conceived to go with the upcoming British spirit for the London 2012 Olympic Games, it definitely fits in to the hype that was surrounding it, and it works well for showing what being British is like. With every type of person, from every walk of life in terms of wealth and poverty, from almost everywhere around Britain, and many interesting sights to see, this is very interesting watch for anyone, the music by Martin Phipps is good with most of the material, and it is edited together well from beginning to end so that the stories flow at good pace, a watchable documentary. It was nominated the BAFTA TV Award for Best Editing: Factual. Very good!
Andy Steel
Made along very similar lines to 'Life in a Day' (2011), this documentary is made from short films and clips made by people in the UK on 12th November 2011. It was organised by the BBC and the film premiered on BBC2 this week. I must say I enjoyed it very much, particularly the music, which really fitted the visuals very well.Several threads are followed throughout the day, but the film takes us through from the early hours until late at night. An eclectic mix of themes, everything from sport to babies to weddings to pets (and much more). At times very touching and also quite infuriating in places too, it really takes you through the whole gamut of emotions. At the end of it I must say I was left with a feeling of pride that I live in such a diverse and brilliant country… Please don't turn it into America!... Don't get me wrong, I like America, there are many wonderful things about it. I just feel that in the modern world with instant communication and modern media Britain is losing its identity and (for me) that's not necessarily a good thing. (Sorry for getting a bit political there).Back to the film, just like 'Life in a Day', there is no voice-over, just the people of Britain telling their own stories on one particular day. I really enjoyed it, particularly the story of the wedding, that really touched my heart. It maybe loses some impact because it has been done before, but even so, it's well worth a look… Recommended.My score: 7.8/10IMDb Score: 7.3/10 (based on 15 votes at the time of going to press). http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt2119395/MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: No Listing (based on 0 reviews counted at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: No Listing (based on 0 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.
