Life in a Day
National Geographic Films | Release Date: July 29, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
5
Negative:
2

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 28, 2011
Life in a Day is, without exaggeration, a profound achievement. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyStaff (Not credited)Jul 27, 2011
It's our equivalent of that '80s art-film kaleidoscope "Koyaanisqatsi." Read full review
80
Time OutAlison WillmoreJul 26, 2011
Life really sings when it's simply pulling together thematic montages - of waking up, food preparation or answers to the question "What do you fear?" - or letting a genuine moment unfold without comment. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttJul 24, 2011
Life in a Day is an experimental project driven by the Internet at its best, where connectivity among the planet's population has become a reality. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'HaraJul 24, 2011
Moving and insightful. Not a classic by any means, but a fascinating glimpse of the way we live today. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJul 28, 2011
At once ambitious in its global reach and modest in its simplicity. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJul 27, 2011
It's a pretty experiment with no apparent results, but plenty of marketability. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 28, 2011
Life in a Day has an earthy and at times euphoric appeal. Helping on that front is the editing artistry of Walker (and an expansive team), the man in charge of all that splicing and dicing keeps things moving at an entertaining clip. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJul 28, 2011
If nothing else, Life In A Day serves as a fine time capsule, recording some of what life was like on Earth in 2010. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoAug 4, 2011
Macdonald knows plenty about crafting something evocative from unscripted material. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJul 28, 2011
It's the sort of big thought that makes a small point, which is precisely the problem with Life in a Day. A documentary that looks to give this notion visual form, it strives awfully hard for depth but, more often than not, comes off too shallow. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJul 29, 2011
There are dull spots, as with any other day, yet "Life" aims to be, and occasionally is, like a YouTube-y "Our Town," giving a sense of what it is to be alive on planet Earth. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 28, 2011
Does the film add up to something more than a stunt? Maybe not. I was captivated by the several hours I recently saw of Christian Marclay's 24-hour-long "The Clock," a video mashup in which thousands of clips from hundred of movies contain watches and clocks telling the same time that spectators can read on their wrists. Life in a Day doesn't aspire to such intricacy, but it's fascinating all the same, an electronic update of Alexander Pope's maxim that the proper study of mankind is man. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. MusettoJul 29, 2011
It's a clever concept that should play well on TV and the Internet. But as a big-screen movie, Life in a Day -- which lists brothers Tony and Ridley Scott as producers -- elicits a shrug and a question: Who cares? Read full review
40
The New York TimesMike HaleJul 28, 2011
It's a hard movie to engage with or even sit through, despite the fact that much of the material is interesting in its own right. Oddly, but perhaps predictably, the problem is the resolutely conventional and soft-headed way in which that material has been assembled. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNicolas RapoldJul 26, 2011
The resulting object is less about the world than about itself, and feels like a hey-that's-neat 90-minute troll through the video-sharing website (which co-presents the project). Read full review
35
NPRScott TobiasJul 29, 2011
Produced in partnership with YouTube and distributed by National Geographic Films, the documentary Life in a Day is offspring with the worst genetic traits of both: narcissism on a global scale, speckled with pretty pictures. In a world without books or magazines, this is the movie people would watch in the waiting room at the dentist's office. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerJul 24, 2011
Only a few snippets escape the uncritical narcissism that the film celebrates and, despite their unimaginative employment, they stand as something of a rebuke to the film's dominant images. Read full review
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