Do Not Miss This One
With Boyhood, Richard Linklater has written and directed a movie that is
nothing less than brilliant in its concept and execution. Though his interest in
the passage of time as structure was there in his three “Before” movies, nothing
quite like this has ever been done before.
Time is the
essence of Linklater’s concept. This film follows a boy, his sister, and his
parents from first grade through his high school graduation. After casting the
movie, Linklater returned to Texas every year for twelve years with his chosen
cast to film the life of this family over that time.
Can you
imagine the risks? What if Ellar Coltrane, cast as Mason when he was six years
old, turned out to be wrong for the role as he grew? What if circumstance
removed any one of the cast? Instead, Ellar Coltrane is perfect from age six to
eighteen. A little boy who is a dreamer grows into a contemplative thinker with
reticence and warm appeal. As he grows, Coltrane’s Mason is wrapped in the kind
of sweet mystery of a young questioner exploring what kind of a person he wants
to become. Watch the teacher whose admonitions fly right by Mason, the student
with the soul of an artist.
The passage
of time here is fluid. No one has to tell us Mason and his sister are growing up
or that his parents are heading toward middle age. It is happening as we watch
twelve years of their lives compressed to several hours. That process alone is
astonishing. Don’t look for a plot. Look instead for a family experiencing the
ordinary transitions life hands them. This is life as it unfolds in real, not
cinematic time.
In the four
leads and the large and fine supporting cast, not one seems to be an actor; no
detail of their dress or behavior seems contrived. This could easily be the
family next door to any one of us. In an inspired performance, Ethan Hawke’s Dad
is a noisy, sometimes tactless divorced father who treasures his scheduled time
with his kids and packs it tightly with the lessons he is sure they need. He
offers such gifts as camping in natural beauty and watching Roger Clemens pitch
in the Astrodome along, of course, with a fine lecture on achievement. Lorelei
Linklater, the director’s daughter is just right as the pesky older sister.
Patricia
Arquette’s portrait of a wife who tries her best to deal with three difficult
men and the demands of an expanding extended family while acquiring the
credentials she needs to support them will stand as a classic. With varying
degrees of loving support, firmness, and exasperation, she watches her children
grow up - first kiss, first drink, first girlfriend, first breakup, first job,
graduation.
Richard
Linklater worked for twelve years on an unprecedented concept with great
patience, imagination, and understanding of his actors. Masterpiece is a word
reserved for a film like this.
Film Critic : JOAN ELLIS
Film Title : Boyhood
Word count : 498
Studio : IFC Productions
Running time : 2:46
Rating : R
Copyright (c) Illusion