BOYHOOD (9 out of 10) – Written and Directed by Richard Linklater; Starring Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Lorelai Linklater; Rated R for “language including sexual references, and for teen drug and alcohol use.” In limited release July 18, 2014, expanding to more markets July 25: 166 minutes.
Much like Linklater’s breakthrough movie, “Dazed and Confused,” “Boyhood” is a perfect time capsule of growing up. Filmed over twelve years with the same cast, we see the same family grow and change as we see Mason, Jr. (Coltrane) go through grades 1-12. We also see his older sister and his divorced parents as they go through multiple marriages, homes, and life circumstances.
Gimmick? Or cinematic brilliance? Maybe a little bit of both. Those looking for a strong plot or thematic through-line won’t be finding one. Linklater’s own explanation of the film is that looking back on his own childhood, he mostly remembered the mundane, the smaller details. There was no cohesive narrative or theme as there is in film. His film captures that, and the passage of time that films like Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” hoped to capture.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t a couple of themes that play out in the film. Specifically, this film should come with a major Trigger Warning to anyone who is a survivor of alcohol abuse in their families. There are several scenes here which may cause problems for people who are sensitive to, say, kids being threatened by alcoholic bastards.
There’s also an undercurrent in all of this about art, specifically music and photography, and capturing things that are real, interesting, or true in your chosen medium. It’s not clear that’s what Linklater was trying to say (if he was trying to say anything specifically at all) but it’s something that was particularly smart.
And this film as a time capsule of the era it was made is absolutely fantastic. Part of it is the soundtrack, from Coldplay to Arcade Fire. The other part is what goes on in the movie: Harry Potter, Bush, Roger Clemens, Iraq, Obama, and an especially prescient conversation about Star Wars. . . filmed in 2008!
What you really get to see in the film, though, is the acting. This was a huge risk in taking two kids and expecting us to watch them grow up on camera. Unfortunately, older Mason is not as cute and young Mason (who is?) but the growing process we get to go through with him rings true. Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke also “grow up” in a sense, and they are amazing. It’s particularly interesting to lay this movie side by side with Linklater/Hawke’s collaboration on the “Before” trilogy and track the growth of both characters and actor through the passage of time.
Indeed, with many of Linklater’s films dealing with specific passages of time (Slacker and Dazed and Confused, the Before trilogy all take place within 24 hours or less) Boyhood is the masterwork that binds all of those strings of time together.
But this is an art film, and one that clocks in at over two and a half hours. It’s overstuffed, but there’s a lot to enjoy here and nothing that you can legitimately say that should have been cut.
So, is it worth it’s 99% fresh rating from critics and 90%+ from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes? Yes. Absolutely. Is the Oscar buzz for Linklater and the cast grounded in reality? Yes, it’s good. The filmmaking involved here must be respected.
But it’s just not as engaging as it could’ve been. French New Wave director François Roland Truffaut once said that “What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out?” Boyhood elevates those “dull bits” into beautiful artistry on a musing about what growing up is really like.
So, depending on your interest in film as an art form will likely color your enjoyment of this film. For those not tolerant of that. . . there’s still Transformers? And if that’s really more your speed. . . ugh.
9 out of 10