Boyhood is an ambitious project, spanning a period of 12 years, carried through to completion. The film follows Mason from boyhood, aged 6, to his graduation from high school and entry into college. The story is told through the eyes of four characters, and is a polar opposite of today's big budget, star laden, special effects movies.
Boyhood is an ambitious project, spanning a period of 12 years, carried through to completion. The film follows Mason from boyhood, aged 6, to his graduation from high school and entry into college. The story is told through the eyes of four characters, and is a polar opposite of today's big budget, star laden, special effects movies.
Boyhood is an ambitious project, spanning a period of 12 years, carried through to completion. The film follows Mason from boyhood, aged 6, to his graduation from high school and entry into college. The story is told through the eyes of four characters, and is a polar opposite of today's big budget, star laden, special effects movies.
Credits: Director: Richard Linklater. Screenplay: Richard Linklater. Cinematography: Lee
Daniel, Shane F Kelly. Editor: Sandra Adair. Music: Meghan Currier; Art Director: Stephen Daly. Sound: Wayne Bell. Costume designer: Kari Perkins. USA. Colour. 165 minutes. Cast: Ellar Coltrane (Mason); Patricia Arquette (Olivia/Mom); Ethan Hawke (Mason Sr/Dad); Lorelei Linklater (Samantha); Libby Villari (Grandma); Marco Perella (Prof Bill Welbrock); Brad Hawkins (Jim); Jenny Tooley (Annie). Boyhood is an ambitious project, spanning a period of 12 years, carried through to completion. Richard Linklater is a unique, original talent, one who is not afraid of depicting in his films the ordinariness of everyday lives. His films are the polar opposites of todays big budget, action packed, star laden, special effects movies, temptations which even independent film makers succumb to, a prime example being Wes Andersens recent de trop extravaganza Grand Budapest Hotel. Linklater showed ambition in his earlier Before trilogy, when the two main characters, Jesse and Celine, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, met each other at widely separated intervals. In Boyhood he takes the ambition further, using the same core cast of 4 characters, and filming them over 12 years. The film follows Mason from boyhood, aged 6, to his graduation from high school and entry into college. Mason goes from flaxen haired, pretty little boy to awkward, geeky teenager. His path along the journey there does not run smooth, buffeted by changing circumstances at home. When the film opens, his parents are divorced, mother has custody of the children Mason and his sister - and his father, who has visiting rights has been away for a long time. Patricia Arquette as mom, gives the films best performance, holding the family together and somehow taking care of and bringing up the two children, despite making some bad choices for husbands. Ethan Hawke turns in a reliable performance as a wayward husband and unreliable father, managing to convey genuine love and affection for his kids. There is an outstanding scene in a restaurant in which Ethan Hawke tries to have a serious talk with his daughter about the need for a girl to take precautions to ensure that she does not get pregnant, while Mason squirms, tries to escape to the bathroom and a pretty young woman, an acquaintance of Mason Sr, interrupts unaware of the seriousness of the conversation. A reminder that this is boyhood in America comes on a visit to Mason Srs second wifes parents, god fearing, gun toting, homespun country folk. For Masons birthday grandma gives him a bible and grandpa a gun as presents. Patricia Arquette gets the best line in the film. Looking back on the years gone by as Mason prepares to leave home, reflecting on life, she says I just thought there would be more. Life rolls along for Mason, there a few nasty bumps along the way, but it turns out more or less alright, as it does for most people, in the end. It is just that movies are not usually made about the ordinariness of life. It takes a special kind of director to be imaginative enough and brave enough to make a quiet film about ordinary people, the passing of the days and the lives of ordinary people. Vidya Borooah 2014