Review of Life in a Day (2011) by Michael R — 23 Jan 2012

Ever wonder what the life of an "ordinary" person is like?

So do I.

And I got the chance to see what that is like when I saw this film, Life In A Day.

What is Life In A Day?

Life In A Day is a documentary film that condenses from multitudes of real videos by real ordinary people through one ordinary day of their lives, July 24th, 2010. Starting from midnight, to morning, to afternoon, to evening.

Life In A Day is ninety-five minutes long and includes videos from over 4,500 hours of footage by 80,000 people from 192 nations. All of this was submitted to YouTube and then edited from there.

Since this is not just a documentary, but a documentary consisted of everyday people submitting videos, I cannot go into cinematography or directing or whatever. There are extraordinary cameras, there are garbage cameras. There are people recording from their camera phones, there are people recording from their webcams. But it does not matter. Because this is real stuff coming from real people. So who cares?

I do have to say, though, that there are way too many positive things to say about this film to fit this review. It may be possible, but I am not willing to try. I will say quite a few things, but everyone needs to see this film for themselves. And I do mean everyone.

Life In A Day has the most spectacular, most beautiful footages you will ever see in film. There are just multitudes of great shots. You cannot go through one minute of the film without getting at least one of these outstanding shots. They will put you in awe. Just like the entire film itself will.

It has every primary emotion within. After all, how can it not? 80,000 people from 192 countries? You are going to see things that could make you cry because of its sweetness, because of its joy, because of its beauty, because of its honesty, because of its tragedies, and so much more. Some parts will make you laugh. You will not always know why, but you will laugh. The majority of the film will put a smile on your face. Some parts, actually, may even get you a bit angry. But purposefully.

One of the many reasons why it is so compelling, that I have not mentioned yet, is because of how ordinary it is. Nobody is doing something crazy, silly, stupid, or anything just to either be funny or to get on TV, these people truly do show and tell how they truly spent one day in July.

Everything about this film contributes to what makes it so powerful: The film's flow and organization, the images, the people's testimonies, the people's voices, the music, all of it. There is equal contribution from everything that makes it what it is.

Now, even though, these are all footages from "ordinary" people, this still required some direction. Somebody had to find a way to find a flow, a pacing for the film, and how to use that effectively.

Kevin Macdonald, the credited director, did this flawlessly. Also, somebody had to trim down 4,500 hours into 95 minutes.

Joe Walker, the credited editor, deserves an insane amount of props. Cropping all those hours is hard freaking work. We cannot know for sure if it is the best cut he could have made from it, which I am sure he is willing to admit or already has, but with 4,500 hours and a 95 minute goal, what do you expect? But I trust he did the best he possibly could, anyway.

After all, the film is powerfully moving, and powerfully emotive as it is.

Which all of that credit also goes to the musical composers, Harry Gregson-Williams and Matthew Herbert. Without it, a lot of the emotion would be nonexistent. And not only is the music just there to hold up all the emotion, it is great beautiful music that holds up the film the way it stands.

And the use of many hand-held, shaky cameras by many of the submitters, only makes viewers more intimate with the people in the film.

A film like this will definitely thrown down some themes and the film's structure, flow, and pacing adds to this, which the director and editor should get equal amounts of props for. Watching this film is akin to the act of browsing YouTube, from which these videos came from, or the internet in general. It goes all over from place to face in the click of a computer mouse.

Some people might say that this decision of making it so fast, even though it is not fast the entire way through, might make it less pleasurable to watch. Like, it would make it too jarring because of how fast cuts sometimes would go. They also would might say that it would make the implications of the film less provocative.

But I am here to tell you that it does not.

It is completely effective and necessary. Partly because it has that theme I just mentioned. The theme of browsing YouTube / the internet.

Also worth addressing, is that I read a few complaints that said that this film comes off too shallow. There is one way to respond to this. The film does not set off to be deep or intellectual. It is purely the organization of everyone's video. It is what it is. It does not try to be anything more.

Another theme of this film is that no matter where we are from, whether it is New York City or Nepal, South Africa or Korea, England or Mexico, everybody has so much in common. In fact, everyone is probably more alike than different. In terms of behavior, beliefs, disappointments, dreams, fears, goals, hopes, you name it.

You are not alone.

Don't believe me?

Watch this film.

Life In A Day illustrates that all of mankind is absurd, quirky, silly, weird, but unique and likable. It illustrates that all of mankind is unpredictable, but predictable at the exact same time.

If you are somebody who is not very fond of humanity, hopefully this will lift your faith up a little bit.

And to anyone who did not or could not like this film ... Good luck to you.

If there is any one film that is inspirational, it is Life In A Day.

Four mangos out of four.