What proves surprising is not that Truffaut's famous series allows us to watch the same actor and his character grow up before our eyes, but that it's the only one of its kind to date. Surely the medium of motion pictures was ideally suited to such a project, for being both capable of narratives of a serialized nature and for being able to photographically record the physical features of its subjects throughout the passage of time. Of course Michael Apted's 7Up documentary series is doing the same thing, but with factual characters and at a certain distance, and fiction films often generate sequels, but with more plot- or revenue-driven agendas, rather than to simply see what their young protagonists will grow up to be. So what we have is a collective work of art, unique unto itself, possible only within its own medium, certainly enough to immortalize its creator (who unexpectedly died soon after the fifth installment), but surprisingly only a portion of his astonishing creative output.

release year: 2004

star(s): X Pac