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Walker's Three to See: Life in a Day

KCUR Arts Reporter Steve Walker shares his top movie pick of the week.On July 24, 2010, You Tube invited users across the planet to submit video clips documenting what was going on in their lives during that 24 hours. What eventually came in were 80,000 submissions running 4,500 hours, totaling approximately 187 days of footage. The resulting 90-minute film collage may sound gimmicky, and the entire premise has it detractors, but director Kevin McDonald has crafted out of the material a thrilling, moving, funny and sad work of art. It opens with a lovely midnight scene of elephants playing in a lake by moonlight and soon ventures into many cities, towns and villages whose wee hours inspire dubious activities and public intoxication. But the film really kicks off - like many of us do - with an alarm clock. And so July 24th begins so similarly all over the globe: people sleeping, getting up, peeing, downing coffee, making breakfast, and going to work. Some clips are only seconds long, where others offer extended scenes that are revisited later in the day. A few of the clips are grainy and amateurish of course but even those can be good, like the teenage boy getting filmed by his dad upon his first shave. But most of them are gorgeous and thoughtfully composed, and the overall experience offers a sweeping testament to how our species is so very much alike.

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