Movie Review: Boyhood

Rated R

165 minutes

Directed by Richard Linklater

Boyhood is a brave frontier in filmmaking. Filmed over 12 years, Linklater has every house, school, car, and, most importantly, actor for significant stretches of time. No extras are replaced, no reshoots are needed. Everything is just a progression through time and space itself. Everything had to be just right for this film to be pulled off, and everything was just right. Call it a fluke, extraordinarily good luck, psychic powers, or just plain unbelievable, but it happened. And man, was it lucky that it got made and that it managed to be this good.

Boyhood is a day-in-the-life, coming of age kind of movie, only filmed over 12 years. There's no real plot, making it comparable to films like Inside Llewyn Davis and the Grown Ups franchise (sad, but true). It revels in the little moments of life, the kind that we can all relate to a million times over. The big moments don't show up until the very end, though they feel completely natural and effective for the story. The fact that it ever so rarely feels forced is a miracle, as this movie could easily feel like "We must do this for the plot or else we won't be able to be convincing for the rest of the movie!" A lot of this natural vibe ebbs from Linklater.

Linklater does an incredible job writing and directing. As I said before, the film oozes with authenticity, and a lot of that comes from Linklater's script, as well as the actors (more on that later). But the direction... almost as close to pitch perfect as you can get. There aren't little side bars telling us what year it is or if we've gone into a new section of the film; instead, we're left to guess based on technology and hairstyles. Linklater enunciates the father's lack of involvement in his kids' lives by having him show up in person every other year, which makes us the kids, who at one point only saw their father every other weekend. Linklater understands kids, and is able to tell which ones will be good actors. And he accomplishes that.

The performances are raw and naturalistic. Ellar Coltrane makes for a believable kid doing this stuff, because he was growing up with this movie. Lorelei Linklater could've easily just been put in the film because she was the directors' daughter; instead, she's perfect for the part because she's going through this stuff. Patricia Arquette is given a standard role of a strong, working single mother, but she nails it, though I bet she has kids, which helps. Hawke is good as well, but he isn't there much, like everyone else in the movie, who do exactly what they need to, and do it well.

All in all, Boyhood demonstrates boyhood incredibly well, and there's no way it should've worked. One of the actors should've died, or Coltrane should've gotten arrested for drug possession or something like that. But I'm not complaining that Linklater is the luckiest flower in the bouquet, because this film is awesome. Nearly went 4.5/5 with this one, guys. One to watch.

4/5

A-