Visitors Review

fustbariclation 2013-05-19 22:52:20

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.

raybid 2013-05-19 17:21:43

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.

Golf India 2013-05-19 03:19:05

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.

Steve Pulaski 2013-05-18 21:59:10

Life as we know it on film

In late July, filmmaker Kevin MacDonald asked the Youtube community tofilm themselves on July 24, 2010 and submit the video to the Life in aDay Youtube page. The videos would be edited and made into a ninetyminute feature film that would premiere at the Sundance Film Festivalin January 2011. It was such a creative idea I couldn't wait to get myFlip and record myself, sadly, the line "must be 18 years or older"prevented me. Whatever, I was still excited to see what others wouldfilm and submit to this film. Who wouldn't? Kevin MacDonald stated "itwould be kind of like a time capsule that people in the future, maybetwenty, thirty, forty fifty, a hundred, two hundred years could saywow, that's what life was like." To be fair, Life in a Day did comewith a price. The submission rate was unprecedented, and I assume lotsof people didn't make the final cut for the film. If they did, theirclips were butchered to probably lest than a third of what they were. Afilm like this has many positives, but a lot of negatives as well.When documenting a film of this large magnitude, there are a plethoraof negatives I must state. One, I feel like the people that producedtheir own clips were cheated in a way. Both Kevin MacDonald and RidleyScott are smart people with a lot of knowledge, but it is sort ofscummy that they get to collect the check for their small part in thefilm, while the true stars were the Youtube community. To my knowledge,the "actors" in the film don't see a dime of what this movie sees.Probably just a typed letter on Youtube.Another aspect that sort of brings the film down is the fact that thereare numerous scenes that take place outside of America, or in differentcountries. That's perfectly fine, I was interested in seeing whatpeople in Egypt, Africa, Europe, Asia, or where ever would film. Thedownside is the film is absent of subtitles, making it impossible tofigure out what these people are saying. I bet the producers themselveshad no idea what these people were saying either. You can see whatthey're doing, but that only gives you the vague representation of whatis going on.Now that I've dug through the flaws, lets talk about the positives. Forthe most part, the film is shot rather well. Keep in mind, thousands ofcameras were used to shoot this movie without a doubt. Different megapixel count, different size, quality, capability, editing, whatever.It's hard to make something look that nice when numerous cameras wereinvolved. Some stuff in this film was mobile phone footage which lookedwell. Whoever cleaned up the audio/video on here is a technical genius.My favorite scene in this film was probably the homosexual teenagerconfessing his true sexual orientation to his grandmother. You can seethat he is truly nervous, and scared of her reactions to his love life.We don't hear the grandma, but we see the teen's reactions. This is thekind of thing that belongs in this movie. In ten, twenty, thirty,forty, fifty, etc years homosexuals will hopefully be accepted and notridiculed for their being, and teens won't have to worry aboutconfessing what they believe is right. They'll be accepted, and freefrom homophobic bullying.Numerous other scenes in Life in a Day are very heartfelt andemotional. The end clip is very near and dear to your hearts, and thefilm does it's best to fit these clips in chronological order becausethere is no true storyline. Life in a Day is an inventive piece of filmthat I had the pleasure to see while it was streaming Thursday January27, 2011 on it's own Youtube channel live from The Sundance FilmFestival. Such a surreal experience, and such an unforgettable film.Starring: The Youtube Community. Directed by Kevin MacDonald and RidleyScott.

aronjackson1995 2013-05-16 19:50:09

Very good film and extremely unique

My first impressions of the film were that it was fairly confusing andhad no sense of order. However, if you paid close attention, you couldbegin to tell that the film was telling a story, beginning at theearliest point in the day. Immediately, you expect the ending of thefilm to be the end of the day. My initial thoughts would be that thefilm would be rather boring and something which I would not pay to goand watch at the cinema. However, it is completely mind-blowing. Theway in which the editors used clips generated from YouTube fromhand-held cameras and adapted them into a way in which a professionalfilm would be made is astonishing. The film is slickly edited to a highdegree; it breaks the codes and conventions of a documentary, but wassuccessfully pulled off by Kevin MacDonald.The film is mesmerising in terms of the thought process behind it. Theidea to film a worldwide society on one single day and create a filmfrom clips uploaded to YouTube is extremely unique. To add to this,MacDonald has included third-world countries by providing them withcameras, which further builds on the uniqueness. The film shows thecontrast between light and dark, day and night and the contrast betweenlife and death. The contrasts, we would have thought, would be obviousto the audience, however they were relatively subtle and disguised; ittook detailed analysis and observation to see these contrasts but Ibelieve that this subtleness draws the audience further into it andmakes them understand the concept behind the film.However, some of the scenes included in the film, such as the slaughterof livestock, questioned the appropriateness for younger children,despite being rated 12. Yet, this theme of death is emphasised here. Attimes the film became tedious and the audience often found themselvesdistracted. The lack of voice-over pushes the audiences focus away fromthe film as does the lack of dialect in certain places. One certainpoint, where racism is shown, may cause offence to people of thatreligion and create a negative opinion, of the film, based on onespecific scene.Overall, I thought that the film was unique and exciting in places.However, some aspects often left me distracted.

Cameron Mckenna 2013-05-16 05:14:10

The best film ever

This movie is another great creation from Ridley Scott and haseverything from sunsets in the morning, footage of people's feet, tothe footage of both moving and funny events taking place all over theworld. If Ridley Scott was attempting to create a documentary thatinspires people to go out and film but at the same time to see how weare all similar in some ways all over the world then all I can say iswell done Ridley Scott. The film gave the opportunity for people allover the world to film their life on the 24th of July 2010 allowing usto see into the lives of everyone throughout the world ranging from anAmerican driving his Lamborghini to children in developing countriesstruggling to survive, all showing use that these differences stillexist but at the same time how we all rely on the same things shownthrough the many clips of goats, showing how many countries are highlyreliant on goats to survive, Got to love them goats, except for the onethat was executed, never mind. The film also gives us a glimpse intoother peoples life's for example, camera teams were sent out to remoteand developing countries which included scenes ranging from sounds ofAngolan women that are singing whilst they work, to goat herders andpeople who dwell in the reinvests, all give use an insight into thenormal everyday life over these remote countries covering around 40different developing countries. The way the movie was created was bygiving individuals three questions which were, what do you love?, whatdo you fear? and what's in your pocket?. Even though these questionsseem a bit random, it opens the audiences eyes to our similarity's butalso are differences throughout the world for example how are fearsbecome more petty the richer our countries are becoming. All of thesereplies gives the audience an inspiring view of the world which allowsthe audience to see the hardships of everyday life in differentcountries but also gives the opportunity for people to show others whatthey feel and what happens in their everyday life. Overall I believethat this film has a new step in the world of film and providedindividuals the opportunity to show the feelings and shows the audiencea glimpse into really life and experiences all over the world which arenone existent in the current Hollywood blockbusters. Granted that thiscould be counted as a cheap form to get footage for a film, but thisfilm in my view is a must see and I for one was surprised on the rangeof different life experiences individuals experience all over the worldeach day but also how we are similar. Well done Ridley.

DICK STEEL 2013-05-14 16:18:34

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!

Rajan Popat 2013-05-14 04:07:55

A Life in a Day

I was shown this film as part of my A2 Media course and did not knowwhat to expect from a film which was solely made from a UGC website.First impressions of the film were that it would be a film that had nostructure and no real story line and would just be numerous videosstitched together. My first impression continued to ring true throughthe first couple of minutes where the audience are shown footage offeet and a women in the dark. After the film continued, it showed tohave a number of good points which made the film revolutionary andstand out against other more conventional documentaries The film,literally showed peoples days from getting up in the morning of the24th July 2012, to sleeping at night, through the changes in dark andlight. The good points continued as it showed the audiences realfootage, in the sense that it was not directed, depicting their reallives, in their real homes and showing their real emotions. Thisallowed the audience to connect with the film which also made itrevolutionary. I believe that film did contain a number of bad points,for instance the scene in which a cow was slaughtered. Even though thefilm is rated 12 and many 12 year olds do understand the killing ofanimals to provide their meat but may not actually have seen thekilling process which could have shocked a much younger audience, evenat this age this particular scene was hard to see. However as the filmtitle depicts it is about people's lives and therefore could bejustified that that scene was edited in. Another bad point of the filmwas the lack of narration. The lack of narration meant that theaudience had to create much of their story in their head and had tofind out themselves what was happening. This could be a bad point forthe film as it does not make the viewing of the film "easy". Overall myopinion of the film has changed from my first impression and know dounderstand how this film is ground breaking in the film industry. Ialso believe that the way the film has been edited together to have asense of continuity and flow and been an advantage for the film as itfollows and standard "day" structure well.

mwolff5 2013-05-13 17:22:28

Amazingly real!

This movie blew my mind! How can an independent movie be so great? Thismovie shows every day people in the rawest form. You just do not seethis in any other film. It shows people real points of view, althoughvery subtle. I thought it was very interesting to see so many people'sfears and allowed the viewer to relate to this movie. I think the bestpart of it all is the fact that they allowed everyone to view it forFREE on you tube. No high-budget movie would do that! It is refreshingto see a movie being shown to all in its purest form and getting thebuy in it is most deserved from the viewer. This movie should be showeverywhere! Get out and see it!

Nico Collu 2013-05-12 22:12:40

A True Accomplishment

I just watched the world premiere of this movie live through YouTube onthe 28th of January starting at about 03:00 AM.Let me start by saying that this is an amazing piece of joined art.I could write tons of spoilers in this review, but it would never addup to actually watching the movie. From the beginning it adds to yourlife a sense of emotion, a sense for wanting to travel the world, asense of connection, a sense that, yes, it is a cliché statement; Weare one.It touching every emotion; I cannot put into words what I want toexpress.A Life in a Day is a movie of the ordinary yet extraordinary life ofanyone at any given time.You cannot help but feel like you are a part of every scene; of everypart of this earth; of every human being presented in this movie.Watching this at home in the early morning, I do not feel isolated inthis room - I feel like I am part of a whole, flying high, ready tolive my life every day.Like the reviewer before me, "If you don't feel empathy for all in thisvideo, something is wrong with you!" Watch the movie! - Nico Collu

Vince27 2013-05-10 19:44:00

Unbelievable

Life in a Day is a remarkable, emotional and an inspiring film full oflife.The film is shot by hundreds of people, from around the world, who senttheir own personal videos into YouTube to make this stunning picture.It is hard to really review the film because of what it is about: life.The film captures life for anything on Earth, whether it be a human oran animal. Cultures, religions, ways of life and philosophies are alltouched upon in this amazing piece of history. Never before has theentire world been seen in a film such as it has in this picture.People from all over the world are captured living as they do normally.There is no Hollywood, there are no actors, no directors and nowriters. This film is about people. It is obviously very difficult to explain what life is and I am notgoing to do it. But this film does it and it does it in a way anybodycould understand.Life in a Day is awe-inspiring in the way it captures life on Earthwithout being sentimental. At the end of the film, there won't be asoul in the world that isn't touched.

Jackson Booth-Millard 2013-05-10 13:57:08

Life in a Day

I should start by saying that I heard about this project at the time iswas being, and I personally attempted to take part myself filming theday in question, but I made the mistake of deleting the footage from myiPod, but I will be honest, I don't think my footage would have beeninteresting enough to fit in the finished film I saw, LOL. Fromdirector Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland)and executive producers Sir Ridley Scott (Thelma and Louise, Black HawkDown) and Tony Scott (In Her Shoes, The Taking of Pelham 123), aproject was launched on worldwide video sharing website YouTube forpeople around the world to film themselves for one day, the same day -24th July 2010, explaining the life that they live and showing us whatthey get up to, it could be seen as a film version of a time capsule.Over 80,000 videos were submitted to the website, with over 4500 hoursof footage, from 192 countries, and all of this was edited down, fromthe most watched, most enlightening and most interesting moments in thelives of the people who participated to create this highly interestingdocumentary about what it means to be human in the world today. Footageincludes the mundane to the monumental from the various people,including getting out of bed, breakfast time, getting dressed, going towork, families and children playing together, wedding vows beingrenewed and marriages, death mentions, gay people coming out, peoplevisiting people, days out like a theme park and watching fireworks, orjust simply showing the world that you existed. All participants coulddo whatever they wanted in their video, but there were also threequestions for them to answer so that it was even more personal, thesebeing: What's in your pocket? What do you love? and What do you fear?,and these obviously add to the people seen showing their joy andsadness and more illuminating glimpses of human experience. With everytype of person, from every walk of life in terms of wealth and poverty,from almost everywhere around the world, and many interesting sights tosee, this is most interesting watch for anyone, the music by HarryGregson-Williams and Matthew Herbert goes well with most of thematerial, and it is edited together well from beginning to end so thatthe stories flow at good pace, a most watchable documentary. Very good!

Ruth_91 2013-05-08 13:20:46

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.

roger-verdurmen 2013-05-08 00:11:39

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...

coxalexis 2013-05-06 12:34:11

Featured animal violence, so beware.

This movie should come with a warning that it includes footage of a cowgetting shot in the head and then having it's throat cut and a chickthat has been removed from it's egg prematurely, presumably to die. Asa veterinarian and animal lover, I find this footage horrific!!!!! Andout of all the clips of day to day life the director could choose toinclude in the film, it is terribly disturbing to me that he would pickthese! Kevin Macdonald, and whoever else made and endorsed this film,there is a twisted side to you that cannot be justified. You and yourfilm suck. In addition, the non-violent footage is largely as dull as amelon spoon. I wake up, eat a bowl of cereal, take a crap, go about myday and crawl into bed at night every day, too. I consider this minutiaof my day to day life to be tedium, just like your film. HATED IT.

Jonathan Hall 2013-05-06 06:29:25

It's OK

I watched the film in school as a Case Study for my NMT exam.First Impressions – It was a very different film to others that I haveseen, with no clear narrative and the quality of the footage is not asgood as 'Hollywood' films. However, something that was positive aboutthe film that was different to others is there are no actors, nothingis set up.Good Points – It is a new way of making films, getting 75% of clipsfrom YouTube 'User generated content' and the actual idea of the film,how 1000's of people would film themselves and their lives on oneparticular day, to get a look inside how the world looks like fromdifferent points of view and not just being Britain's or Americanswhich are common in films.Bad Points – The quality of the clips are not very good, but you getused to it after a couple of minutes and each clip uses differentcamera shots and quality, which is good as it keeps it interesting, butas a whole, and film, it should be consistent. Each clip is too shortto get attached or feel emotions to, whereas another film like 'Marley& Me', you get half an hour to learn about the characters which getsyou attached to them. Also, the film is quite boring at times, withscenes being too long (not being very interesting), or too short insome cases.Overall, it is a film only to be watched as a last resort, but it doesprovide us with a very interesting view of the world on one day andacts as a time capsule for future generations.

valleyjohn 2013-05-02 13:55:17

Brilliant editing

Imagine a film , shot in one day , by 80,000 people. it soundsunbelievable but that is exactly what "Life in day" is. Thisfascinating film is made from footage of YouTube clips from peopleasked to film there everyday activities and do you know what ? Itreally works.How the director managed to edit down 4,500 hours of footage is beyondme but the final cut is excellent none the less.If there ever was a film just about people , this is it. In a way itrestores your faith in human nature when you watch this and it's also afilm that is so fascinating the time flies by.If your a fan of the YouTube phenomenon or not i recommend Life in aday.

TheUnknown837-1 2013-05-02 00:39:51

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.

saternbaby 2013-05-01 16:16:54

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.

tedg 2013-04-30 22:23:23

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.