Life in a Day (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Directors C

  
  Life in a Day isn't the most moving piece of cinema ever made, nor is it capable of sustaining an audience's interest through out. But there's a lot of amazingly captured material here that was shaped into an awe-inspiring film that has a simple message. It's great… More
  Life in a Day isn't the most moving piece of cinema ever made, nor is it capable of sustaining an audience's interest through out. But there's a lot of amazingly captured material here that was shaped into an awe-inspiring film that has a simple message. It's great to be alive.

• Spencer S

  
  Life in a Day isn't really what you would call a film so much as a long Youtube video without anything tying it together. The film balances between the everyday, ordinary lives of people from all over the world and the fantastical possibilities of one day, all encapsulated by… More
  Life in a Day isn't really what you would call a film so much as a long Youtube video without anything tying it together. The film balances between the everyday, ordinary lives of people from all over the world and the fantastical possibilities of one day, all encapsulated by film, and all simultaneously happening at the same time. This film was made possible by a compilation of Youtube videos, and several camera crews which went into the developing world. The parts that were shot by Scott Free Productions didn't always coalesce with the irregular footage of Youtubers. These people showed their everyday actions, including their morning routines, what was in their pockets, and telling what they were most afraid of, all questions the production company asked them to answer in their videos. These questions at times helped to keep the film balanced between the mundane and spectacular, although this film was haphazard much of the time. It wasn't exactly the amazing trip around the world I was expecting or a true look into the lives of every culture and clandestine society on Earth, but visually there were some great scenes, including a skydiving expedition, the explicit death of a cow, and scenes of the everyday lives of Indians, Africans, Australians, and the like, a view of the world I hardly ever get to see. Still, there could have been more. Though the film broaches much of the world, and tries to tie things together with questions, human experiences, and the confessions and condemnations of the scared youth and far more vulnerable adults, it still tried to please too many people with cutesy faire. The film doesn't reach any new heights, or showcases anything extremely vivid or interesting, but does give a chuckle once in a while, a swell of emotion at others, and a decent amount of introspection to anyone who watches with an open heart and mind. Though the execution might not have been perfection the first time around, it was a decently poignant film in places and though not hard hitting it did reveal a new layer of humanity that hasn't been seen directly. For such a broad spectrum of life, they did a decent job overall.

• Idrees K

  
  Not something a lot of people would typically classify as a film. More of an art project, but what an emotional trip it is. There is nothing that unifies yet separates humanity more than our day-to-day lives. Through user-submitted footage, this film manages to show you the… More
  Not something a lot of people would typically classify as a film. More of an art project, but what an emotional trip it is. There is nothing that unifies yet separates humanity more than our day-to-day lives. Through user-submitted footage, this film manages to show you the similarities and differences until you are left with no choice but being shaken.

• Dan S

  
  A fascinating, well edited collage of videos filmed on the same day, July 24th 2010, and the different events and personalities worldwide. This is a film that captures the full realm of emotions, and with a director like Macdonald consistently going from one place to the next, the… More
  A fascinating, well edited collage of videos filmed on the same day, July 24th 2010, and the different events and personalities worldwide. This is a film that captures the full realm of emotions, and with a director like Macdonald consistently going from one place to the next, the effect is undeniably dizzying, if at times exhausting. There are some people and events I wish the film would have explored more of would have made a movie about sometimes, but for the most part this is excellent stuff. As an American, this film showed me once again how thankful I should be given my situation. There are people that have it much worse, and that handle it much better than many others, including myself, would. So in that regard, it is a movie I respect tremendously, and an automatic recommendation.

• Lucas M

  
  With a interesting idea of show different lives in 192 countrys and all in a single day, Life in a Day, presents a incredible portrait, sometimes moving, inspirer and funny, of 80,000 storys. But becomes, in a few moments, boring, this maybe because MacDonald, don't show the… More
  With a interesting idea of show different lives in 192 countrys and all in a single day, Life in a Day, presents a incredible portrait, sometimes moving, inspirer and funny, of 80,000 storys. But becomes, in a few moments, boring, this maybe because MacDonald, don't show the really click moments and disappoint some members of the audience and make they count the minutes until the end of the picture, and dispite 4,500 hours of footage and 80,000 lives, looks like that we see too little and don't get the point. Anyway, we see too a modern version of Dziga Vertov's The Man With a Movie Camera, but after the digital evolution. It's a nice, but not complete, way to see the world and too a globalization effect in the everyday people in whole planet.

• Raymond W

  
  Life in a Day is a remarkable achievement by Director Kevin Macdonald and Producer Ridley Scott. Taking 4500 hours of video from 192 countries and making it into a film 1 hour and 30 mins long that touches on all topics, races of people, and parts of the world is no easy feat but… More
  Life in a Day is a remarkable achievement by Director Kevin Macdonald and Producer Ridley Scott. Taking 4500 hours of video from 192 countries and making it into a film 1 hour and 30 mins long that touches on all topics, races of people, and parts of the world is no easy feat but Life in a Day only skimmed the surface of what could have been a moving portrait of life on earth. The footage scattered and stories minimal, it was hard to find a connection to the people and find a common story line. It lost my interest in parts, moved me, shocked me and made me smile in others. Life in a Day could have been more coherent, more involving, but it's beautifully captured and beautiful to see.

• Tracy K

  
  The most remarkable thing about this movie is its lack of remarkableness. We are all used to remembering where we were on a day when something exceptional happened, but the majority of life is not made up of moments like that - it's made up of the kind of moments captured in… More
  The most remarkable thing about this movie is its lack of remarkableness. We are all used to remembering where we were on a day when something exceptional happened, but the majority of life is not made up of moments like that - it's made up of the kind of moments captured in this film. Every day, 6 billion of us - none of us as different from each other as we'd like to believe - go about our lives, surrounded by our small tragedies and victories; this film is a unique reminder of this simple fact. It's like the whole planet took a moment to say,''This is me. Here I am.'' For that reason alone I found this film fascinating and very moving indeed.

• Jake .

  
  I remember when Youtube first started promoting the Life in a Day project. I had thought about participating, but then forgot about it until after the deadline. I'm not nearly narcissistic enough to believe that anything I submitted would have been used, but at the same time it… More
  I remember when Youtube first started promoting the Life in a Day project. I had thought about participating, but then forgot about it until after the deadline. I'm not nearly narcissistic enough to believe that anything I submitted would have been used, but at the same time it would have changed the feeling of the film had their been personal participation. Whether the footage was used or not would be irrelevant. Either way, it'd be such an uncanny connection to so many people around the globe. Anyone can chart a bit of their day, and everyone's day is made of many of the same type of things. I kind of like that idea, essentially no matter differences, we're all more or less the same. Some of the shots are absolutely gorgeous; especially the skydiving shot. We see the familiar and exotic, oftentimes tragedy, but ultimately we're left with optimism. While many of the clips are literally everyday life, many others took the filming as a opportunity to mark something important. It was a nice touch, though. It's kind of a value call, we are allowed to see what really matters to these people, what they want to place in a single video that represents their life. I'll admit the film wasn't as amazing as I had expected it to be, but at the same time it left me with a lot. It felt authentic, completely intoxicating and incredibly poignant; cultural trappings aside, the human experience is the same no matter who or where you find yourself.

• c0up  

  
  'Life in a Day'. Extraordinary. Put together by the people of the world and wonderfully edited, telling miniature stories that hold their own, covering love, loss, fear, and the vastly different, but also similar ways we all go about our lives.

• Anthony L

  
  Life in a day is Koyaanisqatsi for the YouTube generation. The main difference between Life in a day and the qatsi trilogy though is that Life in a day is more groundbreaking. All the footage featured took place in one day, so everything you see is more or less taking place… More
  Life in a day is Koyaanisqatsi for the YouTube generation. The main difference between Life in a day and the qatsi trilogy though is that Life in a day is more groundbreaking. All the footage featured took place in one day, so everything you see is more or less taking place simultaneously around the world. That is an awesome concept. The other thing that holds Life in a day higher than the qatsi trilogy and other films of its ilk, is that it is more human. There is human involvement, this is where the YouTube element comes in and is probably the best way I have seen the Internet used in a very long time. Life in a day is funny, touching, infuriating at times, tragic and real. It also feels unifying and quite humbling at times. It deserves to be seen on the big screen too, as some of the footage is quite amazing. This isn't just a groundbreaking film though, this is an important historical document that I believe will be talked about for years to come. I know I'll be watching it again, maybe at decade-long intervals and maybe one day my children and then my grandchildren will watch it in the class-room. I kid you not, it's that important and that inspirational. Joe Walker should give himself a big pat on the back for the monumental task of editing tens of thousands of hours of footage into just 90 mins, he kept out all the show offs and unfunny entries too thankfully, the only thing I was really worried about. An amazing film, highly recommended!!!

• Panta O

  
  Crowd sourced documentary is always a risk and for that material to be useful there must be a person who knows what he (or she) is doing even before the material was received. And the director Kevin Macdonald was one of those people! Try to select 95 minutes of playing footage from… More
  Crowd sourced documentary is always a risk and for that material to be useful there must be a person who knows what he (or she) is doing even before the material was received. And the director Kevin Macdonald was one of those people! Try to select 95 minutes of playing footage from 4500 hours submitted... just in your mind... and you'll understand what a task he had at front of him! At the end we got a documentary which is honest, touching and at moments funny, pulsating with the right rhythm with all of us hooked to the big screen. You'll have to feel good after watching it, and one of the biggest achievements for the director is that he never tried to exploit or make it too sentimental! Everyone knows that I love a good storytelling, and this movie succeeded in breaking all the established rules of the good storytelling but still managing to stay unique and even profound! And everything was done in perfect sync! Concerning the chronology of the film and the order of the clips, Macdonald explained that he let the 300 hours of "best bits" tell him what the themes and structure of the film should be. To the director this film was a metaphor of the experience of being on the Internet. ... clicking from one place to another, in this almost random way...following our own thoughts, following narrative and thematic paths. It was nice to watch it... moving and insightful with fascinating glimpses of how we live our lives in this world... and do not expect this to become classic... it was incredibly inspiring but not enough to stay high in the sky.

• Nathan C

  
  An entire film created from YouTube footage? Seems like a pretty interesting idea. And that is what this film is. Life In a Day throws you into the lives of thousands of people, spotting the differences in the way they lived their lives on July 24, 2010. You really don't know… More
  An entire film created from YouTube footage? Seems like a pretty interesting idea. And that is what this film is. Life In a Day throws you into the lives of thousands of people, spotting the differences in the way they lived their lives on July 24, 2010. You really don't know what to expect to see. That being said, some of the scenes in the lives of others will catch your interest or bore you. This is one of the main things to not about the film though; it is extremely hit or miss. Some of the scenes may even be considered too graphic for the feint of heart. But at the end of the day, this is one of those films that make you feel happy to be alive (which is why I watched it before the year ended). It is, however, somewhat difficult to recommend, as the stopping power for the film is that it is very interesting. But it is available on YouTube to watch for free.

• Matthew Y

  
  Ehh...a gimmicky film that basically lives and dies by how much you like the gimmick. Life in a Day is an attempt to collect youtube videos from around the world in an attempt to display our planet and how it functions during one day on Earth, specifically July 24th 2010. A… More
  Ehh...a gimmicky film that basically lives and dies by how much you like the gimmick. Life in a Day is an attempt to collect youtube videos from around the world in an attempt to display our planet and how it functions during one day on Earth, specifically July 24th 2010. A completely impossible task considering there are over 6 billion people in the world and it would take 400 thousand lifetimes to watch a two hour film about one day from each of them (do the math, I did). It's basically the youtube community in an attempt to go beyond the typical voyeuristic entertainment that's typically on the website.

• Anthony L

  
  This was an extroidinary film. I'm not into documentaries most of the time but this one was magnificent and it really changed my view on documentaries. It went from boring to informative and interesting. The idea of this film is an idea that appeals to me personally. The concept… More
  This was an extroidinary film. I'm not into documentaries most of the time but this one was magnificent and it really changed my view on documentaries. It went from boring to informative and interesting. The idea of this film is an idea that appeals to me personally. The concept of seeing the quality of life in countries around the world is such an interesting and original idea. the great thing is that there are no professional actors in this film. Everything filmed is filmed by ordinary people. This film can surely be considered one of the best documentaries of all time.

• August S

  
  It's inspiring to see people in all over the world is doing in a day. Cool and sometimes, hypnotizing.

• R?o?d?r?i?g?o? R

  
  It is an interesting and entertaining, although many times it falls on extremely boring and routine, losing interest and freshness on many occasions. But also some very funny moments and you are open to see people in different situations. The end is a very well documantal serving as… More
  It is an interesting and entertaining, although many times it falls on extremely boring and routine, losing interest and freshness on many occasions. But also some very funny moments and you are open to see people in different situations. The end is a very well documantal serving as part of a different narrative experiment, but that falls into many ups and downs.

• David S

  
  I came out of this film with a real appreciation for life. Following people from around the globe for one day doesn't sound rivetting at all but I loved all 90 minutes of this. The film is brilliantly edited and jumps around the world whilst maintaining a clear narrative thread… More
  I came out of this film with a real appreciation for life. Following people from around the globe for one day doesn't sound rivetting at all but I loved all 90 minutes of this. The film is brilliantly edited and jumps around the world whilst maintaining a clear narrative thread by starting at the beginning of the day and working up until 23:59 that night. Throughout the day we have the daily routines we are all familiar with but the familiarity makes you smile. There are brilliant laugh out loud moments here (like the young boy who is filmed taking his first ever shave) and moments of real sadness (like the man recovering from a heart transplant or the man and his young son who have obviously lost the third part of their family). Perhaps the film uses it's soundtrack too much to tug on the heartstrings but that is a small niggle and it doesn't take away from what is a remarkle piece of film-making. I would recommend this to everyone. A film for the whole world.

• Jason R

  
  Absolutely phenomenal! Groundbreaking on so many levels! The film takes you on an emotional roller-coaster as we catch a glimpse of one day in the lives of people from around the world. Great concept, this is art at its finest!

Read all 18 featured audience ratings