Boyhood was one of the most anticipated movies of 2014 because of its original concept: Richard Linklater filmed Ellar Coltrane, the actor playing the main character Mason, from age 6 to 18 by filming a little bit each year on a 12 years period. It’s something I was always fascinated with, how they cast younger actors looking just like their adult counterparts. So it’s amazing to have a movie actually following an actor as he grows up, and I had great expectations about Boyhood.
I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the movie I was looking for. There’s been such a fuss about it that I was left a little bit disappointed. The story is very simple, we follow Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his family throughout his childhood and teenagehood. The movie features the family dinner, first love, first fight etc… and like always in life, more dramatic events.
Boyhood is the kind of movie where you can identify with any character whether it’s the annoying and a bit rebellious sister or the protective mother, right down to the absent but loving father. I identified with some parts of the story very strongly, being from a recomposed family, but I was unable to form a bond with Mason and, to be honest, when you look into it, he’s very detached from his own story as well. He doesn’t really show his emotions, you don’t know what he’s thinking, he is a mystery. This element made me find the film very very long, I really thought that it would never end, as the focus towards the end is only on Mason and his college years. I would have loved to see more of him when he was little, because it was treated very quickly, and I feel most of the time was spent on teenagehood, and mostly on the 15 to 18 period of Mason’s life.
However, Linklater did an amazing job, from the casting to the direction. 12 years to film a movie must be hard, especially when technology is evolving, and people are changing, I guess you have to face many kinds of technical issues throughout the years; but seeing the result, he managed it with grace. I also applaud the actors, especially Ellar, because at such a young age you don’t know who you’re gonna be or what you’d like to do when you’re 18. I mean, 12 years is a long engagement for anyone but particularly a 5-year-old. It’s fun to think about the older actors involved as well, like Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke, that you also see getting older throughout the film. The entirety of the movie goes very smoothly, it’s natural and you believe in this family.
Technically, it’s revolutionary and it takes guts to put such a project together. I mean go pitch to a studio that you want to do a movie filmed on a span of 12 years! Also, I wouldn’t put a category on this movie. It’s not a comedy, and it’s definitely not a drama or a documentary. It’s a “life” story, it could be the life of anyone and it’s universal in some way. Boyhood is also the proof that cinema can still reinvent itself, that directors are still capable of producing something that hasn’t really been made before.
After being nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Feature Film category, it was certain that the film would be nominated for an Oscar in that same category, after all, Boyhood is a little revolution in itself. Even if Linklater is almost sure to get the Oscar for best Director, Boyhood might not be a Best Picture winner. Still everyone needs to see it because, let’s be honest, it’s quite brilliant.
Rating: 3.5/5
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