Samuel Michel

Janet Maslin’s review to 35 up

I agree with her review on the film 35 up even thought it was mostly negative. From what I read about her review, I see the negative parts of the film are what drew her attention the most. From when Tony was a kid from East End of London and having a dream at 21 to having a son to him taking his mother’s death really hard. I didn’t think his life was that bad because he tried becoming a jockey even if he didn’t success he tried it. That’s more then most people can say. She believes the subsequent contradicts itself in fascinating ways. I believe she was referring to Nick’s part of the film from when 7 dreaming about finding about the moon and ended up earned his Ph. D in physics and is now teaching at The University of Wisconsin. She shows the negative part of that in a way where he’s not finding about the moon. She didn’t mention that it is a great success to have a degree and to finish college but point outs the other side of things. Such as things like him having an unhappy marriage and his wife not taking part of “28 up”.

She’s also speaks about Neil’s downfall within “28 up”. From when he was a outstandingly winning 7 year old to becoming a homeless derelict at the age of 28. But he doesn’t give up because he replies, “my life isn’t over”. I don’t understand what she meant by the film “35 up” is drooping because most of the film was the characters sitting down and answering questions. I don’t see how the should of still been up and about because around that age it’s either you have to stay home to take care of your kids or you doing your job/career to take care of yourself and family. The film wasn’t a film to show you how perfect things were but to show you that life changes for both the better and the worst. No one knows the outcome of life 7 or 14 years from now but the trick is surviving it. Most of the characters did, they problem wasn’t happy with every decision that they made but over all they’re good. They can honestly say that life isn’t easy and what you expect to happen doesn’t always happen. But at the age of 35 I believe that they are a good group and the way they answered they’re questions shows that they have come a long way from being kids and have learned alot.