Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.
Life in a Day is a genuinely singular cinematic experiment — crowdsourcing a single day's footage from thousands of ordinary people worldwide and weaving it into a coherent emotional tapestry is a one-of-a-kind conception that earns high Novelty. The cinematography is wildly uneven by nature, ranging from stunning to mundane, averaging to a solid above-average thanks to judicious editing. The 'plot' is impressionistic and thematic rather than narrative, which works for the format but limits dramatic tension. The acting category is essentially moot in a documentary of this kind, but the authentic human performances captured are genuinely moving if inconsistent. The ending provides an emotional resonance but doesn't fully land as a conclusive statement, leaving viewers with a pleasant but somewhat diffuse feeling.