7 Plus Seven

The second in the monumental "Up" documentary series made for the BBC. This time, Michael Apted takes over the directoral reigns as he does for the remainder of the series. This film sees the same children from the first film, 7 Up, seven years later. Now fourteen, Apted proceeds to ask them many of the same questions from the first film to see how the years have changed their responses. Often the question is asked, and then the original answer is juxtaposed with the new answer. Puberty has made them a bit more self-conscious and the girls a bit more giggly, but it still manages to illicit an almost profound honesty. The idealism of youth has begun to fade away into the slightly more realistic goals of adolescence. It's life development on screen, part of which is filled with disappointment and others with exhileration.