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Release Date: Jul 11, 2014
Boyhood (2014) Movie Review
Release Date: Jul 11, 2014
Director: Richard Linklater
Genre(s): Drama
Starring: Bonnie Cross, Elijah Smith, Ellar Coltrane, Ellar Salmon, Ethan Hawke, Libby Villari, Lorelei Linklater, Marco Perella, Patricia Arquette, Steven Chester Prince
Summary: Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater's Boyhood is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason's parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, Boyhood charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before and is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. [IFC Films]
Review: Among the most distinctive gifts of filmmaker Richard Linklater is his uncanny ability to take the simplest of stories and craft something profound and emotionally complex out of them. He did it with his "Before Sunrise" series, a moving and multi-layered trilogy of romantic dramas about two people who -- for the most part -- simply walk around and discuss the nature of relationships.
As they do, however, they are beyond compelling, shining a light on universal themes of what makes us drawn to one another as human beings. Even if Linklater had decided to never again shoot another frame of film after those projects, they would stand as a testament to his mastery of nuance and his keen insight into human nature.
But now he's done it again -- and even more effectively -- in "Boyhood." Like the "Before Sunrise" films, its plot is the picture of simplicity. This one can be summed up in but four words: a boy grows up.
But, also like the "Before Sunrise" films, it is a film of deceiving depth, working as it does to unearth universal truths in the monolithic minutia of everyday life. A masterpiece of independent filmmaking, "Boyhood" is nothing short of an emotional epic, one that is relatable and moving and entirely unforgettable.
As they do, however, they are beyond compelling, shining a light on universal themes of what makes us drawn to one another as human beings. Even if Linklater had decided to never again shoot another frame of film after those projects, they would stand as a testament to his mastery of nuance and his keen insight into human nature.
But now he's done it again -- and even more effectively -- in "Boyhood." Like the "Before Sunrise" films, its plot is the picture of simplicity. This one can be summed up in but four words: a boy grows up.
But, also like the "Before Sunrise" films, it is a film of deceiving depth, working as it does to unearth universal truths in the monolithic minutia of everyday life. A masterpiece of independent filmmaking, "Boyhood" is nothing short of an emotional epic, one that is relatable and moving and entirely unforgettable.
If you've already heard of "Boyhoood," it's probably because of Linklater's decidedly unconventional approach to the film. That approach -- both ambitious and audacious -- is its masterstroke.
'Boyhood' movie trailer, directed by Richard LinklaterOpens Aug. 8, 2014, in New Orleans
Linklater shot "Boyhood" over 12 years, reconvening his cast once every year for three or four days of shooting. When we first meet the film's main character -- that would be Mason, played by newcomer Ellar Coltrane -- he is 5 years old and being fussed at for failing to turn in to his teacher the homework she found crumpled up in the bottom of his schoolbag. ("She didn't ask for it," he shrugs by way of explanation.)
By the time Linklater's film ends, Mason is heading off to college. In the meantime, we watch Mason -- and Coltrane -- grow up before our eyes, sprouting from chubby kindergartener to clueless adolescent to brooding teen and, finally, to young man.
Along the way, his annoying big sister -- played by Linklater's real-life daughter, Lorelei -- also grows up. His divorced parents, played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, grow grayer. And all of their lives grow more complicated, as lives are wont to do.
Boyhood (2014) Movie Review
It's an astonishing effect. "Boyhood" gets off to what feels like an ordinary start, but this is a slow-burn movie, and it isn't too terribly long before Linklater's gambit pays dividends. As we watch Mason/Ellar grow up, we become entirely invested in his story -- indeed, in his life -- and the sense of realism the concept generates. These don't feel so much like characters anymore as they do like real people. And this isn't just a boy, but he is our boy.
Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' gets the nod as The One movie to see this weekendNOLA.com | The Times-Picayune movie critic Mike Scott picks "Boyhood" as his favorite film to go see this week, if you're only going to see one flick.
'Boyhood' movie trailer, directed by Richard LinklaterOpens Aug. 8, 2014, in New Orleans
Linklater shot "Boyhood" over 12 years, reconvening his cast once every year for three or four days of shooting. When we first meet the film's main character -- that would be Mason, played by newcomer Ellar Coltrane -- he is 5 years old and being fussed at for failing to turn in to his teacher the homework she found crumpled up in the bottom of his schoolbag. ("She didn't ask for it," he shrugs by way of explanation.)
By the time Linklater's film ends, Mason is heading off to college. In the meantime, we watch Mason -- and Coltrane -- grow up before our eyes, sprouting from chubby kindergartener to clueless adolescent to brooding teen and, finally, to young man.
Along the way, his annoying big sister -- played by Linklater's real-life daughter, Lorelei -- also grows up. His divorced parents, played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, grow grayer. And all of their lives grow more complicated, as lives are wont to do.
Boyhood (2014) Movie Review
It's an astonishing effect. "Boyhood" gets off to what feels like an ordinary start, but this is a slow-burn movie, and it isn't too terribly long before Linklater's gambit pays dividends. As we watch Mason/Ellar grow up, we become entirely invested in his story -- indeed, in his life -- and the sense of realism the concept generates. These don't feel so much like characters anymore as they do like real people. And this isn't just a boy, but he is our boy.
Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' gets the nod as The One movie to see this weekendNOLA.com | The Times-Picayune movie critic Mike Scott picks "Boyhood" as his favorite film to go see this week, if you're only going to see one flick.
On paper the story might sound mundane: Mason and sister Samantha go to school. They go to a baseball game with their dad. They jump on a trampoline. They complain about moving. (Again.) But this is a film about something bigger, and when those events are put into context, it feels like it.
When "Boyhood" starts, Mason is a passenger in life. Then he becomes an observer, then an active participant. Not at all unlike parenthood, watching it is joyous, terrifying and heartbreaking all at once. When Mason smiles, we smile with him. When he feels the giddiness of first love, we feel it with him. And when he gets knocked down, we feel that, too.
But you don't have to be a parent to appreciate Linklater's film; you just have to be human. We all remember how wondrous everything was as a child. And then how scary and confusing -- and thrilling -- everything suddenly was when we gradually realized how the world really worked. (In describing it, one character in Linklater's film borrows a phrase Mel Gordon used in the title of his book about Weimar Berlin: "The Voluptuous Panic." It is perfect.)
What's remarkable is Linklater's knack for weaving something so compelling out of events that seem so insignificant. "Boyhood" isn't so much about any single event as it is about the confluence of events that makes up a life. Like "Before Sunrise," its most meaningful moments don't come with some plot twist or third-act reveal but when Linklater's characters are simply walking and talking and big-picture philosophizing.
The greatest movies, the ones that stick with us, are those that hold up a mirror to the human condition and reflect something back at us that we too often manage to overlook. "Boyhood" is one of those movies, and with it Linklater proves he is among the best practitioners of that art.
When "Boyhood" starts, Mason is a passenger in life. Then he becomes an observer, then an active participant. Not at all unlike parenthood, watching it is joyous, terrifying and heartbreaking all at once. When Mason smiles, we smile with him. When he feels the giddiness of first love, we feel it with him. And when he gets knocked down, we feel that, too.
But you don't have to be a parent to appreciate Linklater's film; you just have to be human. We all remember how wondrous everything was as a child. And then how scary and confusing -- and thrilling -- everything suddenly was when we gradually realized how the world really worked. (In describing it, one character in Linklater's film borrows a phrase Mel Gordon used in the title of his book about Weimar Berlin: "The Voluptuous Panic." It is perfect.)
What's remarkable is Linklater's knack for weaving something so compelling out of events that seem so insignificant. "Boyhood" isn't so much about any single event as it is about the confluence of events that makes up a life. Like "Before Sunrise," its most meaningful moments don't come with some plot twist or third-act reveal but when Linklater's characters are simply walking and talking and big-picture philosophizing.
The greatest movies, the ones that stick with us, are those that hold up a mirror to the human condition and reflect something back at us that we too often manage to overlook. "Boyhood" is one of those movies, and with it Linklater proves he is among the best practitioners of that art.
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Boyhood (2014) Movie Review
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