review for 42 Up on AllMovie

The appearance of the sixth installment of Michael Apted's brilliantly conceived and executed series of films tracing the lives and fortunes of a diverse group of Britishers coincided with the rise of what is now called "reality television." On shows like Survivor and Fear Factor, viewers are allowed glimpses into how so-called ordinary people will behave in extreme situations. The Up series is the antithesis of this trumped-up scenario; it allows life to go on unrecorded, save for a drop-in by Apted and his crew every seven years. The scenes of domestic life -- the husband and wife playing with the kids in the garden or walking through the streets on a shopping trip -- are the film's least interesting moments because, like the reality shows, they're manufactured. It's when the subjects become talking heads and have to play catch-up on their lives and reflect on the previous seven years that this series trumps the reality shows. There is little extreme behavior recorded here; the worst-off person, Neil, is, by the time this installment was filmed, on the rebound from years of homelessness and debilitating mental problems. But it is the unexpected turn of events -- a woman who once claimed she wouldn't want any children and is now a loving mum -- or the obstacles that people overcome -- another woman raising three energetic boys on her own, despite debilitating arthritis -- that grab and hold your attention. No cheap thrills here, just an honest and heartfelt examination of the vicissitudes of life.