Life in a Day 2020 Edition Review
Life in a Day 2020 is a triumph of film’s power to convey the life of others and to allow even the most ignorant to broach an understanding and empathetic connection. It is a mark of movies working as empathy machines.
It’s odd how we never stop and think about the sheer amount of life that occurs on a singular day. It’s happening all around us. Each person experiences something different or the same thing in a different way. It speaks to the complexity and depth of humanity and life as a concept. Life in a Day attempts to squeeze that into an hour and half feature spanning the globe, covering the life lived on the 25th July 2020. The phrase a slice of life never seemed more apt.
Ten years on from the original documentary from Academy Award winning Kevin Macdonald, this 2020 edition is the antidote to those claims that sequels end up mimicking their predecessor. The premise of this doc denies a formulaic approach to the same idea. It’s also a rather unique year not to overstate the point. And Life in a Day attempts to acknowledge everything. It’s a mellow approach tying together so many narrative strands into a powerfully life affirming 90 minutes.
Having received 324,000 videos spanning 192 continents, editors are then tasked with the mammoth job of editing life down. Editing is an overlooked art, just like filmmaking every choice can evoke a form of meaning. And that it does in Life in a Day 2020. Parallels are drawn between the most contrasting lives as it grabs hold of its narrative through-line of the humanity and connection we all share.
Nothing encompasses more thematically than this. It stirs death, love, hope and heartbreak with embarrassing ease. The way the editors have shown their ability to move between completely opposed subjects is frighteningly deft and skilled with fears and dreams, youth and ageing, and loss and birth drifted between with empathy and heart despite the brevity at which we touch these topics. The ability to find an emotional connection in as diverse a mix of both the lives on screen and audience is an artful skill.
There was plenty of darkness to go round in 2020 with the two obvious events of the year needing no name. They both feature (it would be disingenuous for them not to). It also signals the Life in a Day’s complexity. The film isn’t a bubbling colossus of sentimentality and profoundly meaningful snobbishness. It covers everything as broadly as it can without feeling so clinical as to lose the heartfelt humanity at the film’s core.
The lives shown venture across continents, gender, social class and anything else that could be used to divide, of which the film so clearly doesn’t want. It is about human life and the holistic connection between us all. I admit this sounds pretentious but it isn’t, because the humanity of the film is too strong despite the pain which balances it.
Emotions are also covered with as much diversity as the people starring, with joy, despair, grief, helplessness, pain, anger, fear and hope all warranting their place in life. Somehow, between this smorgasbord of emotions, transitions are found which are natural and don’t leave you clawing at the emotion you just experienced. It’s a wild tonal amalgamation that feels whole and true.
Life in a Day 2020 is impactful and speaks to a hopeful and holistic view of the world which we all want to believe and this film shows is possible. It is truly one of the most beautiful, life affirming, optimistic, and yet humanly flawed pieces of art I’ve had the privilege of seeing.
Life in a Day 2020 is available to watch on YouTube for FREE here
