Unless you've lived under a rock for the last 1.5 years, you probably have heard about Richard Linklater's "Boyhood", one of the best-received movies from last year. We see a young boy grow into a man and people praised this movie for its uniqueness. Well, it's not that 100% unique. Actually the Up Series did a similar thing. In this 40 minute black-and-white documentary from 1964, several children at the age of seven are interviewed about their dreams, their lives and all kinds of stuff. And every seven years, they came together again and added another chapter. This first one here is actually the shortest. All the later ones easily cross the two-hour-mark. So by now, there are eight editions already and the kids from 50 years ago are approaching 60. Sadly, since the last meeting one of the girls (Lynn) died and also the director Paul Almond, who started this endeavor, is no longer with us. Michael Apted, who directed all the films since the second entry is still alive, however. The boy named Charles (a filmmaker himself) is the only one from the bunch who decided to be not a part of it anymore. I quite enjoyed watching this television documentary. As a film of its own I would give it a 6. It's certainly worth a watch and also tells us about life in England 50 years ago. The whole project I'd rate much better, maybe an 8/10. As interesting it is to watch, it's also a bit of melancholy to see these as there is always some transience in there. Anyway, it's really a great idea and nice to see they kept the concept going for so long. The next entry will probably come out in 2019, when everybody is in their early 60s.

The guiding principal is the quote "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man." The filmmakers hope to follow these kids to see a glimpse of England in the year 2000. They follow a group of kids from varied background, and ask some probing questions.

I think most of the questions are over their head. While it's cute to ask these kids about girlfriends and love, the answers are basically meaningless. There's some interesting takes on fighting, the class system and blacks. We get limited information about their family life. Every once in awhile, they answer a question by giving a glimpse into their real lives. We need better answers by adults rather than answers from 7 year olds.

In the end, this is just setting up the rest of the series. The filmmakers get a lot of quotes that will be replay in the films to come. It's a baseline. At this point, we're just having a bit of fun watching cute kids talking without comprehension.

This is the first of an incredible series. Looking back, there are a lot of questions that the filmmakers didn't ask. If the film is taken as a stand alone, it is just a high class version of Kids say the Darndest the Things. But it is a good setup and we have to start somewhere. For that I'll give it a 7/10. If I have one minor change, they need to put the kids' names on the screen. It would make it easier to watch.

This look at a collection of children in England was intended as a one-time thing, but Michael Apted decided to revisit them every seven years. Previously I had only seen "49 Up". "Seven Up!" introduces the tykes as the UK's future. The boys and girls talk about their aspirations, also focusing on the British class system. Apted's association with the series makes it a surprise that he didn't direct the first installment, acting only as a researcher.

Whatever the case, it's a really good documentary. There have been equivalents made in several different countries; of those, I've only seen ages seven and fourteen from Russia. But Apted's series is the gold standard, and I recommend it.