1917
Just Mercy
The Lighthouse
Dare Me
Got more questions about news letters? Email support@rottentomatoes.com
Already have an account? Log in here
Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password.
We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified.
Please reference “Error Code 2121” when contacting customer service.
Director Michael Apted continues to utilize cinema as a window into the lives of everyday people, and in the reflection of this documentary we can glimpse our own aging humanity.
Tap to review this movie
Super Reviewer
Rate this movie
Oof, that was Rotten.
Meh, it passed the time.
It’s good – I’d recommend it.
Awesome!
So Fresh: Absolute Must See!
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Step 2 of 2
Fandango
AMC (Coming Soon)
We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
Cinemark (Coming Soon)
Regal (Coming Soon)
Bought somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
Rent or buy
All Critics (68) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (67) | Rotten (1)
This suffers as well from the fact that the subjects' lives haven't changed all that much since 49 Up (2005); perhaps the series will improve yet as they head into old age. Jan 1, 2014 | Full Review…
This suffers as well from the fact that the subjects' lives haven't changed all that much since 49 Up (2005); perhaps the series will improve yet as they head into old age.
J. R. Jones
The original documentary was intended to illustrate how the country's deeply ingrained class system inscribed itself on the aspirations and inner lives of its young people. But the successive movies have been far less polemical. Jan 1, 2014 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
The original documentary was intended to illustrate how the country's deeply ingrained class system inscribed itself on the aspirations and inner lives of its young people. But the successive movies have been far less polemical.
Ann Hornaday
We're now at 56 Up,, and with each passing calendar leap, the experience of watching has only become more soul-stirring. Jan 1, 2014 | Rating: A | Full Review…
We're now at 56 Up,, and with each passing calendar leap, the experience of watching has only become more soul-stirring.
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Yes, on some level it's just a seven-year check-in with people maybe half-remembered, if that. Yet the films also serve as a kind of check-in with us, too. Mar 28, 2013 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review…
Yes, on some level it's just a seven-year check-in with people maybe half-remembered, if that. Yet the films also serve as a kind of check-in with us, too.
Bill Goodykoontz
What ultimately is so compelling about 56 Up is the universality of the experiences. We were all once children. And we all will die. And in between, there is everything else. Feb 21, 2013 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…
What ultimately is so compelling about 56 Up is the universality of the experiences. We were all once children. And we all will die. And in between, there is everything else.
Steven Rea
We feel good, refreshed and depressed in watching these people get older, also embarrassed in moments and cautioned about the passage of time. Feb 14, 2013 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
We feel good, refreshed and depressed in watching these people get older, also embarrassed in moments and cautioned about the passage of time.
Mick LaSalle
56 Up is both an exceptional standalone documentary and an excellent teaser for the series as a whole. Feb 26, 2019 | Full Review…
56 Up is both an exceptional standalone documentary and an excellent teaser for the series as a whole.
Molly Templeton
It may be true that the character of a person may be more or less set by the time they are seven. But there's no predicting exactly where that character will lead. Aug 30, 2018 | Full Review…
It may be true that the character of a person may be more or less set by the time they are seven. But there's no predicting exactly where that character will lead.
Pat Padua
Fortunately, the structure of "56 Up" is complex enough to add layers of distance and irony to its subjects' present-day stories. As it reminds us, no one's life turns out quite like they planned it, even for relatively happy people. Feb 20, 2018 | Full Review…
Fortunately, the structure of "56 Up" is complex enough to add layers of distance and irony to its subjects' present-day stories. As it reminds us, no one's life turns out quite like they planned it, even for relatively happy people.
Steve Erickson
Here as always [Director Michael] Apted jumps between his subjects' variously aged selves with hypnotic, occasionally ruthless dexterity, mapping new narrative sequences and creating damning or salubrious conversations. Sep 11, 2017 | Full Review…
Here as always [Director Michael] Apted jumps between his subjects' variously aged selves with hypnotic, occasionally ruthless dexterity, mapping new narrative sequences and creating damning or salubrious conversations.
Michelle Orange
Perhaps predictably the mellowest of the movies. They for the most part seem to have settled into an autumnal contentment. The big conflicts have been largely resolved. Apr 28, 2015
Perhaps predictably the mellowest of the movies. They for the most part seem to have settled into an autumnal contentment. The big conflicts have been largely resolved.
Sean Burns
As the project hits its half-century mark, with the "kids" settling into middle age, the signature cross-cutting between then, now and everything in between feels downright Proustian in its emotional depth. Jan 1, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
As the project hits its half-century mark, with the "kids" settling into middle age, the signature cross-cutting between then, now and everything in between feels downright Proustian in its emotional depth.
Norman Wilner
There are no approved quotes yet for this movie.
View All