Buy Life in a Day Movie. Watch online or Download
Genres: DramaDocument
Starring: Cindy Baer, Moica, Hiroaki Aikawa, Caryn Waechter, Bob Liginski Jr., Drake Shannon, Reid Martin Basso
Director(s): Kevin Macdonald, Natalia Andreadis
Country: USA, UK
Year: 2011
Available Quality: DivX
IMDB Rating: 7.8 out of 10 (4794 votes)
What do you get when you ask the people of the world to chronicle a single day in their lives? You get 80,000 submissions, 4500 hours of footage, from 192 countries. Kevin Macdonald has taken this raw material, all shot on July 24, 2010, and created a 90-minute paean to what it means to be human in the world today.
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Life in a Day (DivX) | Resolution: 640x352 px | Total Size: 697 Mb |
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Movie Photos:
We have taken some photos of "Life in a Day". They represent actual movie quality.
Visitors Review
pturner1010 (22 May 2012)
A day in the life of the planet Earth and the human race; this is the 24th of July, 2010 as recorded by anyone with a video camera.
Democracy. Power to the people. Digital technology. Video cameras, theinternet, editing software and music. Life in a Day is a unique,ambitious experiment. And boy does it work! A call went out fromdirector Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland)and executive producer Ridley Scott to the YouTube community. Captureyour life in a day. Anyone with a video camera and access to theinternet could enter and submit a video of what was happening in theirlife on the 24th July 2010. Cameras were even sent out to far-flungplaces to allow people who do not have access to these filmmaking toolsto contribute to the film. So is this a documentary, an experimentalfilm or a social action media production? Well it's all three and more.It's also a narrativised piece of thrilling, enjoyable andinspirational cinema that will leave audiences crying, smiling andfeeling blessed for their own lives and loved ones.The narrative is not forced; the film begins in the early hours of themorning and takes the audience through the day to midnight. Charactersoccasionally reappear throughout the day and others come and go in theblink of an eye. The ordinary, everyday lives of the people of theplanet are given an epic quality by the capturing of the full moon andmany time lapse shots of changing landscapes and in one brief sequencethe beauty of the northern lights. People rise early; people havestayed up all night drinking and one man howls and barks at the moon.The film then has many montages, people taking a morning leak, eatingbreakfast, taking their first steps out of bed in the morning. Thesoundtrack adds to the feel of the ordinary becoming extraordinary andthe editing emphasizes the universal ways that people go about theirdays. It might sound boring but it's not. The pace is swift withmoments of humour, sadness and plentiful details that will strike achord with many an audience member.People play themselves and I say 'play themselves' because there aremoments when the camera set ups draw attention to the constructednessof the scenarios. For example the montage of people waking up in themorning is rather let down by the people who have clearly set up thecamera on the tripod and then pretended to wake up in front of it. Muchmore 'real' feeling are the moments of people filming their partners asthey sleep and capturing true moments of awakening. There is also anotable emphasis on children which seems to tie in to a major theme ofthe film. Children are filmed by their parents (from sonograms tobabies to a young man's first shave) and in fact this is one of thefirst moments of the film when it settles on a character for more thana brief moment. The pride and love these parents feel shines throughwith the following of their children and cannot fail to put a smile onyour face.The task of editing 4500 hours down to just over 90 minutes must havebeen a monumental task and it's a wonder that the film has beenreleased in just under a year from the date that all the filming wasdone and uploaded. The editor, Joe Walker and the researchers must havesifted through countless hours of crap and should be applauded fortheir selections and for managing to also keep the film to a concise 90minutes. I imagine there are also numerous moments that were foughtover and eventually ended up unceremoniously dumped on the cutting roomfloor.Life in a Day is thought-provoking and life-affirming. Though nomessage is forced down the audiences throat, there are many ideaspresented here that should be thought about and discussed for hoursafter watching. The global origins of the footage, the variouslanguages spoken, the colours, sounds and sights of people of varyingcultures brought together in one film emphasizes the similaritiesbetween the people of the planet. The footage of rituals, customs, andcelebrations from around the world show that love and loss areuniversal, that family is universally important to all cultures.Juxtaposing an Afghan photographer with an American soldier's partneror a grinning Lamborghini owner with a shoe shining child suggests apolitical agenda but again, no message is forced. The viewer decideswhat to make of what they are seeing. There are some horrific moments;the tragic outcome of the German Love Parade, the killing of a cow, butthese are contextualized in a positive film that does not dwell on thesadness of life but focuses more on the joy.At just over 90 minutes the film does not outstay its welcome and Idare to suggest that a sequel would be worthwhile in a few years time.Life in a Day is a time capsule and a treasure trove of the ordinary.Through skillful editing, beautiful and emotive music and the desirefor the people of this planet to share themselves honestly and openlywith others, Life in a Day becomes more than a film, more than adocumentary and more than an experiment. The ordinary becomesextraordinary and the film becomes a gift, a statement and a powerfuldedication to love, family and unity. Watch it and embrace it.
Golf India (22 May 2012)
Unremarkable YouTube mash
I watched this movie/documentary on the back of excellent reviews, andthe caliber of the director and producer. The subject matter wasinteresting, asking the web community to capture events happening intheir life or around them, on one day - thereby trying to captureglobally the essence of living. However it seems the scope of thesubject was too large, and difficult to condense and organise. As aresult there is no plot, and only a loose structure around the time ofthe day, i.e. rising of the sun, breakfast, lunch... with all sorts ofjumps to different subjects/locations/genres. That is OK if you want tosit through a random mish-mash of amateur clips, but I wondered whatwas the added value from 90 min of me surfing on YouTube. The answer iseditorial choice - it's all in the art of sampling, compiling andpresenting. To be fair, some parts were slick, but I wasn't sure aboutthe sudden jumps throughout, with no apparent link. Was the style meantto be impartial and objective / shocking, to drive a point home /partisan, representing a sanitised view of the world (big sponsorbacking through LG, who won't like a depressing story even if that wasthe reality of the user videos)? In the end, I felt the movie wastrying to be all things to everyone. It seems this explains thepopularity. But I failed to connect with the movie. Worse still, I feltreally nauseous from the jerky camera movements. I went to the cinemato be entertained, not to induce vomitting. If you must watch thisfilm, do it from a small screen. I wouldn't pay any money to watch itin the cinema - it's pointless.
fustbariclation (17 May 2012)
Life in a Day is, unusually, worth the huge praise - it is truly brilliant! Sad, humbling, trite, yes, but that's us.
Wow! This has exceeded all my expectations - & I had a lot. It isn't afilm, it's an experience. If aliens were to watch any film abouthumanity, I'd want it to be this one. It is really sad, really happy,really genuine. We are such amazing, and (mainly) wonderful apes:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt16â87247/ We're so used to false,manufactured, artificial emotion in films that it's quite an unusualdelight to find the real thing.Yes, of course, any editing of so many clips has, perforce, a point ofview, an agenda, but I can't help feeling that this is a sound one, ahumanistic one. I'll have to watch it again - it just has so much, somany perspectives on what makes us human, what matters to us, what wefear, why we are what we are.I'd recommend it - humanity in the raw. Ourselves. What is best aboutthe film (given my comment above) is that it just is what it is (as faras is possible in such a duplicitous medium).I'll watch it again, and consider more what it really has to say - butmy first impression is that it is brilliant.Sad, humbling, trite, yes, but that's us.
kosmasp (17 May 2012)
Reality Cinema
I can see why people would be overwhelmed by this. And not only peoplewho know the guys who submitted footage for this, but quite a lot ofpeople. And while they tried to put the videos together in a fashionthat has a narrative (or something similar to it), it still shows, thatwe have random people having random discussions (ranging from funny totragic to inspiring).It is nicely done and I pretty much enjoyed it. The "filmmakers" (orthe ones who cut together the videos they received) had a difficult jobto do. Going through all that footage is not that easy. Especiallybecause you have no idea what you will find in it. And while the movieis more "real" than reality TV, it still didn't ring masterpiece in mybook. But that is taste for you ... We are all different as this moviedoes show us to an extend ...
Nico Collu (15 May 2012)
A True Accomplishment
I just watched the world premiere of this movie live through YouTube onthe 28th of January starting at about 03:00 AM.Let me start by saying that this is an amazing piece of joined art.I could write tons of spoilers in this review, but it would never addup to actually watching the movie. From the beginning it adds to yourlife a sense of emotion, a sense for wanting to travel the world, asense of connection, a sense that, yes, it is a cliché statement; Weare one.It touching every emotion; I cannot put into words what I want toexpress.A Life in a Day is a movie of the ordinary yet extraordinary life ofanyone at any given time.You cannot help but feel like you are a part of every scene; of everypart of this earth; of every human being presented in this movie.Watching this at home in the early morning, I do not feel isolated inthis room - I feel like I am part of a whole, flying high, ready tolive my life every day.Like the reviewer before me, "If you don't feel empathy for all in thisvideo, something is wrong with you!" Watch the movie! - Nico Collu
alexart-1 (14 May 2012)
July 24, 2010: Life out of Balance
Morning, July 24, 2010. "It'll all end well," a man says to his youngerson, who is currently throwing a tantrum. "It'll all end well," hereassures the boy. What will end well? This situation? This day? Thislife?As Life in a Day progresses, the viewer travels through the lives onmany, literally living vicariously through others. This amazingdocumentary, produced by the Scott Brothers (one of which is the famousRidley Scott) and directed by Kevin MacDonald, travels all over theworld on one all too regular day: July 24, 2010. Starting in themorning, a time filled with a happiness and renewal, and ending in theevening, a time of reconciling and sadness, Life in a Day profilesthings that should be commonplace. The best part: these things arecertainly not commonplace. The Earth is a beautiful place. Our livesare great. Why not display them on film? And that is just the point.Like any great documentary, Life in a Day is a poignant film. Butunlike many great documentaries, it follows a subject that should notbe poignant. If you have ever seen Amelie, you know the great beginningsequence. An unseen narrator shows us two glasses dancing on a table, afirefly dashing across a yellow-lighted French street, and a manerasing the name of a dead friend out of his address book. Imagine amovie like this entire opening sequence and you've got Life in a Day.Beautiful imagery, such as a teenage boy shaving for the first time, iscommon throughout the entire film. One shot especially, that of askydiver falling to Earth, is probably the best part of the entirefilm. In a scene reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi, a woman tumbles throughthe upper layers of Earth's atmosphere. It is quiet for a brief minute,and then, as the clouds engulf her, the noise of the people seeps in.The couple laughs together, sharing a time like no other together.And yet, there are some truly disturbing scenes. At a Love Parade,multiple people are shown getting trampled to death. A few rush over tohelp the fallen victims, but many carry on, screaming to their heart'scontent. One part that people will surely have a reaction to is theslaughterhouse scene. Fair warning: a cow is shot in the head twice.The cow is later decapitated graphically. As these scenes show,sometimes life isn't always great. The images may be ugly and bleak,but they are always beautiful.Life in a Day is a beautiful time capsule of people in the newmillennium. Simply put, it's a wonderful portrait of people who doregular things. On a more complex level, it's a documentary about howlives are constantly changing. Every action we do changes the nextaction that is going to happen. Time is important. It's also shapingthese actions. What's going to happen tomorrow? After all, as ScarlettO'Hara once said, "Tomorrow is a new day."
rlhron (12 May 2012)
If you only see one documentary this year...
This film is a lot like Koyaanisqatsi, only Life in a Day also haswords to help tell the story. No matter who you are, no matter how muchyou have traveled, no matter what you have done in your life, therewill be something in this film that you have never seen before,probably several things at that. Not only is it amazing that the entire documentary was filmed by"everyday Joes", the editing is also brilliant. These stories, probably100 or more, mess together in a perfect fit, like a beautiful puzzle.The music is fantastic, spot on for every scene. And did I mention thetears? If you are not touched by several of these stories, then you arenot from this planet. You can find reviews of this film saying that this is just overrated,like watching someone surf youtube, lots of cell phone filming (whichis not the case), the story is just mish-mash and its only aboutpeoples everyday lives, nothing special about that. You should askyourself two things about these reviewers. Did they submit footage forthis project that was not used in the final film and maybe that is whythey don't like it? And two, do these people even know a good film whenthey see one? Do they consider "Transformers" the best movie ever made?"Life in a Day" gets my highest recommendation, no other film today ishigher. I'm not going to say this is the best documentary ever made,it's way to soon for that kind of talk. I'm just going to say thatafter you see this film, you will highly recommend it to others aswell!
DICK STEEL (11 May 2012)
A Nutshell Review: Life in a Day
YouTube, LG, Tony and Ridley Scott of Scott Free Productions, KevinMacDonald taking up directing responsibilities, and some 4500submissions filtered down to just 90 minutes worth of footage. That'swhat Life in a Day is about, where anyone from around the world cansubmit a film shot on 24 July 2010 and be counted toward what would bethis feature film that's just what its title says - Life in a Day - andthe end result is something so simple in collaborative concept, but sopacking such a powerful punch.From time to time you'll wonder just about how many stories are outthere at any given time, with millions of people each having somethingto say, and experience to share, that a snapshot at any time ofeveryone's collective existential moment will take us more than alifetime to go through it, if we can capture it all in linear fashionand sieve through it like a video on fast forward. That's how Life in aDay felt, although we're spared a largely impossible task, havingthings whittled down to just one day, and submitted through technologyto the producers of the film who will then have the task of distillingthe aesthetically beautiful, meaningful shots into a coherentnarrative.Beginning from the wee hours of the morning and ending literally at2359hrs, we see how people from around the world think up of similarideas in their submissions, capturing moments which become timestampsof the day such as meals and routine rituals that find common groundwherever we are in the world. Landscapes also become very popularchoices of capture, from dawns and dusks peeking through clouds, eachdifferent yet being the same the same source, to midnight electricalcharges striking across the night time sky.It's a mixed bag rolled up together from disparate sources put togetherin rhythmic, poetic terms, engaging and of course keeping your eye outfor something that could have come from your own shores. It showcasesdiversity, yet have undertones of similarity in aspects of our lives,highlighting differences in geography yet sharing a constant range ofemotions evoked and experienced. It's the human condition on displaywith all things almost beautiful, balanced with moments of poignancyand the mundane told through creative angles.From the lot given you'll definitely have your favourite - mineinvolves one very early on in the film with a Japanese father and youngson waking up in the day, shot through fish-eyed lens - or favourites,and I'm really curious if all 4500 shorts have been uploaded somewhereon the Youtube channel for everyone to freely access and take a look atthe raw footage ourselves. Recommended!
billcr12 (11 May 2012)
Great expectations
Life in a Day shows ordinary people from around the world in a seriesof short, disconnected vignettes.A woman trying to sleep is awakened by her hyperactive son while herhusband tells the little boy to let his mother sleep. We quickly learnthat the woman is seriously ill.A young man calls his mother asking her advice regarding a potentialgirlfriend; another guy phones his mom to tell her that his good friendis actually his boyfriend. Both scenes end in surprising ways.My personal favorite is a man from Korea riding his bicycle in everycountry. This particular segment should be made in to a full lengthfeature.Alternating between tragic and comic, with beautiful photography, thisdocumentary should be nominated for an Academy Award.
saternbaby (10 May 2012)
Life as a Lie
I understand the need to drive home some kind of secular fantasy abouthuman unity in the technological age. I also understand that humans aredoing themselves no favors by building lies like this film in place ofserious discussions concerning just how intolerant, self-righteous,irresponsible, violent, perverse, delusional and diseased we are as aspecies. This will sound cynical to some. But I am cynical because Ihave no choice. I see wonder in the natural world, even as it ismerciless and savage. But humans are not wondrous. We are a part ofsomething wondrous. Big difference. A celebration of life by theliving, though understandable, is absurd. And the lie is that we aresome kind of global community that can "just get along".YouTube itself is an socially irresponsible corporation which allowsthousands (or millions) of children exposure to everything fromsimulated and real violence to soft and hardcore pornography. All onehas to do is go on to the site's homepage to see a giant ad for CaptainMorgan rum; look a bit further and see a wealth of videos promotingdrug use, fake suicide videos and countless human rears gyrating to theaggressive anti-musical strains of hip-hop. YouTube does more to bringignorant arrogance, nihilism and reckless hedonism to the world thanany other media source in existence. I have seen plenty of amusingthings on YouTube, but not once have I gone onto the site and beenspared from intentional offenses, disrespectful expressions and hostileattitudes. To utilize and advertise such a site is a moral joke incontext to the liberal BS of this film's major conceit.We are not one world. We are a bunch of messed up animals trying tocope with our own fears, doubts, prejudices, insecurities, confusionand immaturity in the face of technological evolution that iscompletely out of our moral control. Life in a Day is an amusingdiversion at best and a deceptive distraction at worst. Do yourself afavor and stroll away from this foolish herd and its pretensions.Discover something truly interesting and wondrous: the rest of thenatural world.
Greg Phipps (26 April 2012)
Excellent documentary, Best Documentary material IMO.
A year ago from yesterday, I knew about the experiment and what wasgoing to happen. However, I was too young to enter... so... thatsucked. So time passed and I sort of forgot about the movie. Then theyannounced that they would be releasing the movie on Sunday (yesterday)and I knew I had to see it. So, I went to a sold-out screening of thefilm, and they showed the top 3 fan-made trailers for the movie, andsome Q&A afterwords, as a little added bonus of seeing the film on thefirst day. And let me just say that this movie is AMAZING. I thought it was goingto be kind of cheesy, and it sort of was, it was a little cheesy, butthis film was near perfection. It captured the essence of life onplanet Earth in one day. From America to Afghanistan to Korea toAfrica, the film was better than any Discovery Channel BS documentaryseries. The movie showed all different types of cultures, religions andpractices, from the Muslims celebrating Full Moon (I think) toAmericans getting up and going to work, this film, as I've said manytimes before, captures the essence of life. I definitely, ABSOLUTELY recommend seeing this movie. If you should seeany documentary in my opinion, either see this or Exit Through The GiftShop. Or both. But, nonetheless, this one. I won't be surprised whenthis movie wins an Academy Award, because it's the best darndocumentary I've seen released this year.This film is happy, funny, sad, and emotional where it needs to be.They stated in the Q&A afterwords that the original cut was 3 hrs long,and I think that that cut may have been a little too long.Final verdict, if there's one documentary that you should see withinthe next month, it's this. If you're a YouTuber, see this movie. Ifyou're a human being who breathes in oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide,and has the ability to go to the movie theater where they are screeningthis movie, SEE THIS MOVIE.
Vince27 (26 April 2012)
Unbelievable
Life in a Day is a remarkable, emotional and an inspiring film full oflife.The film is shot by hundreds of people, from around the world, who senttheir own personal videos into YouTube to make this stunning picture.It is hard to really review the film because of what it is about: life.The film captures life for anything on Earth, whether it be a human oran animal. Cultures, religions, ways of life and philosophies are alltouched upon in this amazing piece of history. Never before has theentire world been seen in a film such as it has in this picture.People from all over the world are captured living as they do normally.There is no Hollywood, there are no actors, no directors and nowriters. This film is about people. It is obviously very difficult to explain what life is and I am notgoing to do it. But this film does it and it does it in a way anybodycould understand.Life in a Day is awe-inspiring in the way it captures life on Earthwithout being sentimental. At the end of the film, there won't be asoul in the world that isn't touched.
thecatcanwait (21 April 2012)
I YouTube therefore I am
A mish mashy melange was my first reaction on watching this. Then iwatched it again and could see more coherence in it.It's structured around all the ordinary small stuff we have to do toget through the every day: waking up, washing, brushing teeth, shaving,making breakfast, lunch and so on.And then there's the bigger life-events like coping with illness,getting married, having babies.Questions are asked like, "What's in your pocket?" or "What do youlove/fear? A lonely guy loves his cat another guy loves his fridge..another guy fears his hair falling out a woman fears "not being amummy" and so on..At times the editing is very fast: periodic montage sequences whizz bya conveyor belt of micro images like a Planet Earth ad break.But then there are several personal pieces that follow individualsituations. I liked these slower stories better, such as The post-graduate returning to Essex to catch up with his "old man"dad, both sat in the car, sharing a burger.The gay guy coming out to grandma on the phone ("I love you too" he'ssaying to her) And the sad scenarios: of the father lighting incense at shrine of deadwife  and the little sons perfunctory remembrance of his mother; orthe "Family project" of mother dying of cancer, trying to help heranxious young son make sense of it; or the thankful  tearful  Aussiein hospital after major heart surgery "I'll be out there again, doingcrazy things, and enjoying life" he says. But you sense he probablywon't.There's smiley bits too, like the Peruvian shoeshine boy; the rudewedding vows read by the English vicar.And some nasty bits, like the slaughter of cow, its throat beingslashed into to let blood  and there's a rapidly cut together montageof scenes of violence and fighting  deliberately rushed through so asnot to dwell too long. The shoplifting Russian/Slav is a bit dismayingtoo (firstly, that he's filmed getting away with it; secondly that theclip gets sent to be included in the film; and thirdly  that it isincluded!) Throughout, is the continual narrative thread of a Korean cyclingaround the world for the last 9 years  feeling homesick for Koreanflies.Come the afternoon outdoor pursuits  like skydiving out of planes Âand Life in a Day has got to feel exhausting.So much packed in, so much to pack in. I think a million sub-editorswere needed to prune the 4500 hours of submitted footage into a mere 90minutes  just a blink of the Earths eye really.To begin with i was wanting not to like it, but come the end i was wonover. Out of all this mashed up diffuseness something cogent gotproduced. Although I wonder how much actual directing input KevinMacDonald did to it. It looks more like a cut and paste collaboration,the chopped up product of countless hours of endless editing  ratherthan something that's been singularly created.Question is, would selective clicking on any YouTube vids on any day ofthe year produce the same result? No, cus this is more of a polishedproduct. But watching a load of randomised clips would probably seem asarbitrary as this film feels. And the effect would feel similar:trawling in too much information just makes the net of your attentiongo saggy.I might watch this again one day (Unless they come up with another lifein another day next year) At the end  2 minutes before midnight  there's a girl in a carbemoaning the fact that "I spent the whole day waiting for somethinggreat to happen .all day long nothing really happened i want people toknow that i'm here . i don't want to cease to exist" "I don't want to cease to exist". As long as you're seen on YouTube,you can pretend you don't. If you get my drift.
siukong (21 April 2012)
Just another extraordinary day
By its very nature, Life in a Day is an ambitious film. It seeks toencapsulate the human experience and all that it entails: life anddeath; love and hate; poverty and wealth; our dreams and our fears; andso on. I would argue that it does so successfully - or at least assuccessfully as possible for an undertaking of such scope (80,000submissions totalling 4,500 hours of footage cut down to just an hourand a half!). It manages to strike a balance between the beauty ofprofessional shooting and the raw visceral power of amateur footage.Very little seems contrived or awkward, and the editing and music donot usually distract from the simple energy of the vignettes beingshown. In fact, the score is quite good and the editing only comes tothe forefront when it's doing something meaningful - revealing links,emphasizing contrasts, or completing a thought.A few stories are highlighted and revisited as the film progresses, butin general it never lingers too long on one scene. You would think thismight hinder the presentation of some of the slower, more peacefulaspects of life, but it really doesn't. In fact, the lasting impressionfrom this film is not one of chaos but one of unity and connection.That being said, at times the emotional roller-coaster you are beingput through can be slightly bewildering. Some viewers might dislike howquickly they are brought from one emotion to another, but most willprobably be too engaged to feel more than a twinge of regret that aparticular scene couldn't last longer.Some might argue that the more brutal realities of life areunderrepresented (war, death, crime, prejudice, etc.), but I think thatperception is probably due to how much we are bombarded with them byour daily news and entertainment. Don't get me wrong, there is plentyof misery on display here (whether it be as simple as the sting ofrejection or as profound as the fear of dying), but it's often moresubtle than explicit and it's tempered by a positivity that sometimesseems to be lacking in our view of the world.As a cinema enthusiast, this film excites me with the prospect ofincreasing interactivity and grassroots power. As a human, it gives mehope that we can live in harmony and understanding. And I'm usuallyquite the cynic.Final summary: 9/10 | A
ip man (17 April 2012)
Making the ordinary extraordinary
Many of us struggle to experience something beautiful and extraordinaryin our lives, trying to do things which allow us to feel a littlespecial in the midst of our daily lives. What this film shows us isexactly the opposite - that the extraordinary in our lives lies in themidst of our daily activities, if we can just allow ourselves to acceptand appreciate our lives without any preconditions. We also discoverthrough this film that many others also share our hopes, fears,humanity and prejudices.I salute those who have shared their most intimate moments and privateexperiences with the rest of us for in having the courage to allowthemselves to be seen, they have shown us that it is possible to livethrough life's difficulties and still persevere - such is theresilience of the human spirit.You see the Japanese father and his young son living in an abject messand wonder why. Then you see them offering incense in remembrance ofthe deceased mother and you get that lump in your throat. There aremany other poignant moments - a young man telling his grandmother thathe is gay - you can almost hear her struggling for the right things tosay on the other end of the 'phone.This film is also about connection and what it is to be human. Despitethe sometimes blurry images, it succeeds extremely well - you careabout the people sharing their stories - because they are real peoplewith authentic stories, and not from the fevered imagination of aHollywood scriptwriter.Make sure you stay to the end to watch the final clip.It is probably the best movie I have seen this year - quite amasterpiece of experimental film making.If you only see one movie this year, make it this one.
Amadio (16 April 2012)
If this is life... yawn
First of all I must confess; I missed the middle of the film because Ifell asleep. The idea of the film was wonderful; people all over theworld send in clips of/from their lives and the directors put togethera 'collage' and make a film. I've just seen the Sundance screening onYouTube. As was said in the Q&A afterwards, there are as many versionsas there are directors willing to take the scenes and put themtogether. This version, however, for me, was slow and boring. What awaste. So many amazing clips must have been sent, and what was puttogether focused on individuals for way too long. Poorly shot,hand-held filming is not an issue. Labouring a point is. The directorssaid that they had no idea what they would do with the footage and thatthey had to make a structure. This 'structure' did not hang togetherfor me at all. The directors started out calling it an experiment, andthen later called it a film. It is an experiment, and I do not find itto be a very successful one other than to show editors what not to do.I really hope someone else has access to the raw footage and makessomething more interesting, motivating, uplifting and representative ofthe human spirit.
valleyjohn (14 April 2012)
Brilliant editing
Imagine a film , shot in one day , by 80,000 people. it soundsunbelievable but that is exactly what "Life in day" is. Thisfascinating film is made from footage of YouTube clips from peopleasked to film there everyday activities and do you know what ? Itreally works.How the director managed to edit down 4,500 hours of footage is beyondme but the final cut is excellent none the less.If there ever was a film just about people , this is it. In a way itrestores your faith in human nature when you watch this and it's also afilm that is so fascinating the time flies by.If your a fan of the YouTube phenomenon or not i recommend Life in aday.
Kevin Loigu (14 April 2012)
Life in a day,,,
First of all, this is my first review. Second of all, this documentaryis pure gold. How can you sum up life? All it's wonders and downsides?I think Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott and the whole team behindmaking this film did a great job. Everything you see in the film ispure. It's real. It's like if you watch this movie you can realize justhow large our world is. You cannot compare your everyday world to theworld other 7 billion humans are living in. Well at least I couldn't.Movies are my passion. And so are many other things. Being one of sevenbillion makes you think. Makes you analyze. Makes you feel. About life,about death. About myself and about you. About your smile. Aboutschool. About granny. About yesterday and about tomorrow. Life in a dayisn't just a documentary. It's a true story told by everyone in thisplanet. And the story goes on every single day until the story slowlyfades... Make your life worth living for. It's not likely to lastanother story.
James Bonney (06 April 2012)
Exhilarating ride through 1 day of us living on Earth
Just saw this at a preview and its mind blowing. As you might expect from a Youtube content generated film, the clipsand there are hundreds...are short, punchy and vary from fuzzy mobilefootage, of a lonely girl talking at her phone, a guy asking a girl ona date, to timelapsed high definition clouds brewing into a darkthunderous storm, suns setting over Himalayan peak, and goats staringknowingly at me ...more goats please! All walks of life, all parts of the world, everywhere on this littleblue planet is the location, where shared themes common to all humanityare explored and humoured, exploited and tragically true of usall...there's a lingering sadness which underlies the frequent fun andhumour so many of these clips portray...us making the best of what wehave, which for so many is nothing much at all, and yes there isdarkness, a lot of it, but what we do, our nature is to laugh at it,and celebrate the victory of being alive. The resulting feature length montage is profound, emotional, hard towatch at times, and if you're not empathising with the rest of theworld and grateful of your shared humanity by the time the snail mindsits own business...you ain't' go no soul, noooooo, none! Expect more of this, coz its all true, and just a glimpse of what thedigital age can do.
kerick08 (05 April 2012)
The Power of Connection
Life in a Day is a historic cinematic experiment that attempts tocapture what life looks like on one day, July 24th, 2010, around theentirety of the world. Thousands of hours of video were captured andthen compiled to give a glimpse into what constitutes an average dayamongst humanity. This film is ultimately about connection; the connection of humans toone another and all of the mundane, regular, everyday things that weshare despite our differences in culture, location, and upbringing. Thefact that we all sleep. We all wake up in the morning. We all eatbreakfast. We brush our teeth. We walk around. We smile. We love. Wefear. We breathe. This film is an affirmation of the simple joys andsorrows that we experience merely as a result of living on this earthand being human. It is an affirmation of life at its rawest, truest,grittiest, and loveliest. The summarization of this project can be found in the words a youngteenage girl who vocalizes that, although she went through her wholeday with nothing particularly out of the ordinary occurring, merely bypartaking in this social experiment and something greater than just herown life, she was left with the feeling that something amazing washappening. This simple statement speaks of our innate human desire to be a part ofsomething that is larger than just ourselves. We long to belong, toconnect, to be understood, and to be a part of something meaningful andworthwhile. This film speaks directly to this need and is able totranscend religion, culture, age, and gender to get at the heart ofwhat it means to be a human being on earth today. What an amazing timecapsule treasure for generations to come.
Review total: 20, showing from 1 to 20