Boyhood (Linklater, 2014)

Over a decade ago, writer and director Richard Linklater began working on his mysterious "twelve-year project". Hoping to gather the same cast and crew a few weeks out of every year to film portions of the story, he wanted to encapsulate childhood in a single film. He hired Patricia Arquette of Medium fame to play the single mother, and brought his own daughter, Lorelei Linklater, onboard to play the older sister to his main protagonist. The director wanted the boy in this film, played by Ellar Coltrane, to literally age before our very eyes on the screen.

Linklater brought these actors back every year to film the next chapter in the life of the boy. It took twelve years to complete, but by the end of the picture, we see Coltrane age from five to eighteen in just a few hours of footage. When the film finally premiered after years of media attention at the Sundance Film Festival, it was met with universal acclaim, and reviews have only gotten better as more and more people see it. 

I finally got the opportunity to see Boyhood a few days ago- and it's all I've been thinking about ever since. Linklater's epic is a life-changing experience, showcasing the power of hard work and the memories of my own generation through the eyes of an aging boy. Not a single frame was wasted, nor a single line of dialogue extraneous- Boyhood is without a doubt one of the most perfect movies I have ever seen.

The commitment required to make Boyhood is staggering. Think about it: where were you twelve years ago? How have times changed since then? How have you changed since then? Each one of these actors made a solemn vow to uphold their part in the project, not because they were legally bound, but because of their strict dedication to their art. It's clear that everyone in this movie wants to be here, wants to show how simple yet infinitely complex a single life remains. 

Boyhood's story comes second to its epic technical scope, but the simplicity of the narrative only adds to the perfection of the picture. Mason is the second child of Olivia (Arquette) and Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke), a divorced couple who reach far beyond the stereotypes of single working mother and absent father. Mason grows up with new fathers, in new homes, with new friends, yet we're always watching his story unfold. The supporting characters are interesting but not necessarily complicated- unless they pertain directly to Mason's development in his long-term growth.

The film's plot itself doesn't seem very interesting on the surface, but don't misunderstand me- it's intended to be that way, and the film is incredibly entertaining beyond its technical achievements. That's part of the magic of Boyhood, that it doesn't bother with the "easy life cliches" such as marriage or learning how to drive for the first time. Instead, the film focuses on the "little moments", day-to-day stuff that may not mean much in the overall life of Mason, but is fascinating to watch how his life unfolds from one age to the next.

The little details of Boyhood are what make it stand out: from the types of music to the video games Mason is playing, there's clearly a lapse in time that Linklater wanted to address. I also really noticed how the lenses of the shots got cleaner as time went by, as the technology to create a movie got better with time. It shows how far we've come in only the past decade, and it's something fascinating for film buffs to watch carefully.  

Linklater directs the film carefully, so that every question from previous sections is answered, but never directly or easily. It makes you interpret how the times have changed, and make your own judgements on why you think something happens a certain way. There's some clear planning going on here, but on the whole, I feel that a lot of this film is improvised and adapted year after year, to make it fresh and reflective of the times it's trying to convey. 

Linklater's camera shots are wonderful and iconic as well; the first scene of Mason staring at the stars makes you wonder what not only Mason is thinking, but what Linklater himself is imagining for the next several years. There are so many parts that just managed to work perfectly, such as scenes that feature Mason getting his haircut, Mason Sr. and Jr. talking about the future of Star Wars ages before the seventh one was announced, and watching a home run live with the actors at an actual baseball game. 

There's no title cards telling you when Mason ages, or no time indicators to show how much time has past from one scene to the next. It takes about a half hour to get used to this, or to even notice its happening; suddenly, the film will shift from one year to the next. By the end of Boyhood you will finally realize how much time has elapsed in just three hours, simply by looking at the final frame, and then the poster. It's breathtaking and surreal to experience. 

Of course, all of this is anchored by Ellar Coltrane's stunning performance as Mason, every bit as talented, if not more so, with each new year. His aging performance is something we've never seen before in a fictional setting. Sure, we watched Daniel Radcliffe age in the Harry Potter franchise, but not like this, and certainly not for this long (as a side note, the Boy Who Lived makes an appearance in the film as one of the yearly milestones that Mason experiences). 

I was also vastly impressed by Lorelei Linklater, who's casting I originally attributed to nepotism but later realized was a stroke of genius; the director said of his daughter, "I knew where she was going to be for the next twelve years". Both Arquette and Hawke do something completely unexpected with their characters, and it's actually shocking to see what they become by the picture's end. 

What really got me, however, were the supporting actors; while all of the four leads were expected to return every year, there was no guarantee the other people could or even would return. It takes at least one run-through of the picture to realize that most of the characters had to return sometimes years after their simple bit-part a few years earlier. It was a magical moment when a character from one of the earlier sections made an appearance in the later part of the movie, and I realized at that time how special Boyhood remains. 

All four of the main actors are deserving of Academy Award nominations and wins, and the film itself should maintain the stamina to make a major dent come this awards season. It's hard to imagine a film topping this landmark cinematic achievement.  

Boyhood is unlike anything ever seen before, and it's a technical marvel that's epic in scope yet so simplistic in its storytelling. It makes all other films seem rushed in comparison, and it's evidently clear that Richard Linklater took his time to patiently create the movie he set out to make from the beginning. It's intimate in its character study, nearly perfect in it's execution, and full of humor and heart. 

Boyhood is a masterpiece, and shall remain in the pantheon of the greatest films of all time for decades to come.