Richard Linklater's Boyhood is a coming-of-age drama that the director spent twelve years making. He cast a young boy, Ellar Coltrane, and shot the film a few days at a time for over a decade so that he could capture how his leading actor, and the rest of his cast, aged. The film's story simply follows a boy named Mason (Coltrane) as he progresses from age 6 to 18 and deals with the typical travails of childhood like his parents' divorce, bad stepparents, falling in love, finding his artistic voice, and fighting with his bratty older sister. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette co-star as Mason's parents. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Lorelei Linklater,
Steven Prince, Libby Villari
Release Date: Jul
11, 2014
Rated R for Sexual References, Language and Teen Drug and
Alcohol Use
Runtime: 2 hr. 42 min.
Genres: Drama
Review:
Richard Linklater’s audacious cinematic experiment is
truly unlike anything you’ve seen before in a movie. It’s a ground breaking experience that truly
takes us through a journey that all of can relate to. At its core it’s a fairly straightforward
film about the ups and downs of life but by letting us see the growth and aging
of the cast of as a whole, it creates a certain singular effect as you watch
the film. Ellar Coltrane is truly authentic
and effective as Mason from childhood up through the film’s finale. Occasionally there’s some chunkiness’ in his
delivery but overall it’s an impressive coup all things considered. Patricia Arquette really shines as his mother
as we follow her journey throughout the twelve years covered. She brings a high level of believability and honesty
to the role that’s hard to pull off. Ethan
Hawke is equally impressive while working with much less screen time. The characters transformation is impressive
and believable mainly due to Hawke’s impressive work. The story is anything but idyllic and while
some of the relationships presented do tend to follow a certain routine it never
feels inorganic or cheap. Linklater has
a certain ability to capture reality on celluloid much like he’s done before on
his Before series and he’s done it here with this masterpiece.
A
I just can't warm to this film at all. There is something about its success that irrationally irritates me! It will win all the awards but even then it won't make me want to watch it!
ReplyDeleteK :-)
I'll be honest, I put off watching this film as long as possible for the same reason. I love Linklater films but they are very distinctive in terms of style, almost overly mundane and that's true here. Still, I just can't deny the achievement he pulled out.
DeleteA good review, Daniel. I enjoyed the movie more than I didn't, but I still think the film is getting more praise for being shot over a lengthy period of time rather than actual great filmmaking. I agree with you that Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke are very good, it just seems more of a good film to me overall than a masterwork.
ReplyDeleteI actually agree mainly because of the experimental nature of the film. In all honesty, strictly as a film I think Birdman is much stronger.
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