Michael Apted has died
bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk
Another "temporally ambitious" series was George Lucas' Star Wars films, which used the real-life ageing of the actors to tell a multi-generational story that (whether you think it's highbrow or lowbrow) has massively influenced multiple generations.
I wish more visionary film makers produce such "temporally ambitious" works. Even something as "simple" as taking a photo of yourself everyday for 60+ years and make a 60 second timelapse video yields impressive results.
Most people are understandably focused on the present and near-future, but there are some visionary artists who build really cool things over a much longer timescales.
Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013)
“temporally ambitious” implies some sort of forethought. With Star Wars it was just a series of profit maximizing attempts. George Lucas released Episode IV. Then he saw a bunch of demand and made V and VI. Then later made I-III since there was more money to be made. Disney bought the franchise and decided there was still more money and nostalgia is a powerful factor and made VII - IX using a lot of the same actors.
In the same vein, I guess Indiana Jones is temporally ambitious as it shows an aging Harrison Ford.
But unlike the other examples, I there really wasn’t an artistic vision. It was more financially ambitious which accidentally ended up looking like temporally ambitious.
The original 1977 movie was titled 'Star Wars' (without any subtitles). The temporal ambition started with titling the next movie "Episode V: Empire Strikes Back" and renaming the original movie "Episode IV: A New Hope". I agree maximizing profits plays a big part, he made things up as he went along and in interviews over the years he switched between saying it's a 6/9/12 movie saga. But whatever his motivations, he still had the temporal ambition to "start from the middle" and leveraged that idea to build a lasting franchise. And that really impresses me.
Take Tony (a participant in Up) and look at his experiences in the 1980s and 1990s. That's probably a good example of some of the changes that took place.
Best TV ever. No doubt.
Unassailable.
There is a sublime melancholy to be had watching actual people's lives. The temporal nature of the series (as pointed out in these comments) inevitably leads to contemplating one's own mortality (to put a fine point on it).
The "Up" particant's ambitious and youthful energy in some cases turns to cynicism and it hurts to recognize these things in yourself.
Most eventually pair off and it is on to what is usually the next stage of life — parenthood. And some of the lost energy returns in the rearing of their children — balancing it with their relationship with their partner, their careers.
Being just a decade or so behind these people gives me a sometimes sober preview of life to come, sometimes hopeful. Always though their "common" lives slowly reveal the plain beauty of a simple life lived honestly.
For people new to the series, jump into the middle. The first of the series are more clinical — intended to explore classism in the U.K. But as the series goes on, the class-angle falls away and, as I say, the beauty of watching people go through what we all must go through becomes the more pointed aspect of the experiment.
In the show, which only ran for 6 episodes in 1991 before getting cancelled, an old man in 2036 reflected on various events in his life (we saw events from the 1970s to the then-future turn of the millennium).
Apted directed the episode "Jessie," which I consider one of the finest half-hours of drama ever on television. You can see it on YouTube at:
Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4oe_JH4rw Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eFczFwWAFE
The other episodes are worth a look, too.
It’s well known that events get coverage almost inversely proportional to how frequently they occur. But the day to day stories in these films tell us so much more about our culture than e.g. Tiger King. And in 28 years our children will find them just as exotic.