Richard Linklater proves that a good story does not always need drama and high tension for it to be a success. Real life can be interesting as long as the characters and the tale is compelling. Let's dig in.
Richard Linklater took 12 years to create Boyhood, with the same cast on a meagre $1 million for the entire production. It’s amazing to think that the actual film was shot in only 45 days from 2002 to 2013 . (Film buffs will find the mechanism of how he did it very interesting - check it out
here).
The film follows Ellar Coltrane’s Mason who we see grow from the age of 7 to his late teen years; basically his early years of his childhood as the fictious Mason, a very sensitive boy.
Coltrane is the heart of the movie, he has genuine sensitivity and broodiness that he carries from childhood to his teen years. Ethan Hawke is the cool dead beat daddy , Patricia Arquette does the overwhelmed mommy very well and Linklater casts his daughter Lorelei as Coltrane’s sister Samantha, who is almost the anti-thesis of Mason calm, quiet self.
So the film makes you identify with the characters but also with the actual actors as we see them seeminglessly grow right in front of our own eyes on screen. It's hard not to empathize with them.
Boyhood asks a lot of questions - do we grow up as adults? Or are we just big kids in big bodies? Do we truly learn anything as we grow older? Or are we bound to repeat the same cycles and mistakes over and over again? It explores the damage parents inflict on their kids and vice-versa.
The film does not hit you with a sledgehammer though but is very meditative on these questions. There's laughter, geneuine sadness and tragedy but also the mundaneness of life in this film that makes it special and honest.
One has to really to admire Linklater, the man is gutzy and is able to keep a consistent look and feel over 12 years irrespective of the change in technology of filmmaking. His able to incorporate the changes in music, popular culture and games in his script and it’s all cohesively and well put together.
It also works as a marker of the different time periods we live in, aside from the ever-changing or growing characters. It may not be everyone's cup of tea 'cause there’s no shoot-'em-up sequences or fast pace edits. The camera and edits linger on, the plot doesn't move in one direction to resolve problems.
Yet, for those who want something meaningful, unassuming and I say insightful which creates it's own rhythm and logic which is not necessarily based on genre tropes, this film is for you. A film that showcases cinema as art not just a commercial tool.
Rating *****
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index
* Junk **Almost bearable ***Now we cooking **** Almost perfect ***** Classic
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Trailer watch
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