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Life in a Day 2020
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Wikipedia article
'Life in a Day 2020' is a 2021 American crowd-sourced documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald. The sequel to the 2011 film 'Life in a Day', it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on February 1, 2021, and on YouTube February 6, to generally favorable critical reviews. Like its predecessor, it comprises a wide array of selected video clips showing things happening in the world on one day: July 25, 2020.
Summary
'Life in a Day 2020' begins at dawn, with a montage of mothers giving birth. Then, morning rises; people wake up and do their activities; one of them is a homeless affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A montage of Internet content creators filming is followed by a child named Sondos celebrating her birthday. People fall in love and kiss each other. After a man fails to attract the attention of a neighboring crush, people marry, while a man is rejected and a couple breaks up.
After observing students graduating, the film cuts to the mother of Alexander Lucas, who was featured in the original 'Life in a Day' (2011), saying he died on February 18, 2020 due to COVID-19 complications. This prefaces a montage featuring dead elderly and graveyards, and another featuring the effects of the pandemic, such as isolation, vaccine experimenting, and a surge in video calling. Meanwhile, a man devotes himself to not wearing masks, and a former soldier reflects on his time serving.
Another montage plays, featuring a student driver, a baby learning to walk, an elder woman learning to cycle, a disabled woman testing her robotic arm, and a pet bird named Love doing her first flight. A traffic officer gives tickets to people parking cars at red curbs. An elderly says he would not change anything in his life, while another speaks an existential monologue on the pandemic. A paralyzed man laments about people who treat him as if he is not human. Another montage plays featuring the worldwide George Floyd protests, followed by a retreat leader tearfully calling everyone connected and healing to him.
A montage features various physical labor, with a sweeper scolded by a citizen and a shoeshine worker struggling to attract people who are afraid of COVID-19. The homeless man from earlier flies drones as a way of coping, while others skydive, and a horse rider wins a race. A trainspotter achieves his goal of spotting all seven Class I railroads in a day. Amid isolation, people find connections with animals, and a furry says the fashion style is his way of self-expression. Another montage laments air pollution and floods.
People talk about old memories and attend religious activities. An expecting centenarian urges happiness in life. The woman that failed in getting pregnant earlier says she wants her future kids to live in a kind society, saying it is easy to achieve it. As night falls, stores close and some people go home, while others rejoice in celebrations. A man owns a dog named India, who was owned by his late wife. Some sleep happily, others tearfully. The film closes with a child saying he wishes people can communicate with the dead. A girl tries to put viewers to peace by hearing waves crashing.
Theme and production
The announcement of the film was published on the movie's YouTube channel on July 8, 2020, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd protests, natural disasters, etc., which Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson sees as "the perfect time to premiere this for a new edition of a work that so powerfully demonstrates the power of cinematic storytelling to reveal and celebrate our shared humanity".
The film follows the same structure as its 2011 predecessor, comprising selected vlogs of people all around the world, talking about themselves on the same day, July 25, 2020. Submissions were open from July 25 to August 2. A team of multilingual editors and researchers selected noteworthy submissions.
Kevin Macdonald sees the film as a "time capsule," stating:
I guess any movie reflects its moment, whether you consciously want it to or not, but this even more so. I think it will be a time capsule for the ages. We're living through this time of great political upheaval, and that's maybe at the forefront of our thoughts. But for a lot of people, the lived day-to-day experience, which is what I'm hoping we'll capture in the film, is not going to be about those big issues, at least not directly. It's going to be about, you know, 'it's bath time for the baby,' or, 'what do I do on my Saturday off,' or, 'I don't have enough food to eat, and here's how I get by.' I always say to people, 'What's boring to you, what's normal to you, is gonna be fascinating to other people.'The producers did not compensate individual film-makers whose work was included for their creative efforts, although they were credited as co-directors of the project.
Critical response
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes had 'Life in a Day 2020' an overall critical percentage of 71 using 21 reviews (15 positive and 6 negative), with an average rating of 6.70 out of 10.
Most critics came to an agreement that the film is a comprehensive depiction of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the 'Chicago Sun-Times' calling it "wholly predictable yet undeniably effective", and 'Variety' comparing it favorably with its predecessor for focusing on highlighting themes of unity, though noted that this approach caused the film to lack themes of "seeking and stressing lifes more diverse and disorienting juxtapositions". Many also praise the choice of videos and compilation style, which they observed to be emotional and heartwarming, feelings ambient in a variety of ways during the pandemic, though 'Variety' called certain choices "irregular", and Peter Bradshaw of 'The Guardian' criticized its apparent context-free nature and that the compilation "look[s] more like a corporate ad". He, however, praised many of the videos, which he found to be lively.
The 'San Francisco Chronicle'
References
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