I love this, I love it so much, I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant. Oddly enough I will from this point it would seem I can only speak in clichés. I have also apparently stared at this screen two days since seeing the film and still can't construct anything coherent or worthwhile saying apart from endless platitudes about it's magnificence, that's dull, I'm trying to be more critical. Well, in saying critical, I will endeavour to at least define why I like this film, that's where I'll start I reckon.
The very core of Boyhood is that it's a film which took 12 years to make, Richard Linklater gathered up his team and actors when he could at one point for a couple of weeks each year and shot some scenes and then cobbled together this film, the premise being that of following a young boy from the age of 6 through to graduating at 18 and going to college. We essentially drop in on moments in his life and watch him grow and develop and become a young man which is... it's the most intimate experience I've had at a cinema in a while. Perhaps intimate isn't the right word, but with these snapshots into this kid's life you see him and learn about him and how his experiences have shaped him, it feels like you understand him, but as with any other human being, he still surprises you. I feel like I'm using the word intimate wrong but I can't think of anything other which would fit what I'm trying to say and using a thesaurus would feel cheap. Seeing a young boy grow into a man, watching him adjust to his hairstyles, his acne, his limbs stretching out, his voice changing, his behaviour and style grow and finding himself over the years, how is that not intimate?
What feels really magical about Boyhood is that it's essentially a time capsule, starting from 2001 and running through to 2013 - the film doesn't actually tell you when any of it is set but uses signifier like presidents, phones, certain cultural phenomena to keep you pegged into what time it is, but no one ever explicitly says when any of this is going on (obviously it doesn't really feed into natural conversation and that's not what the film was going for.) Anyway the first real indication of when we start the film would be older sister of the main character singing Britney Spears - Oops I did it Again, this is mirrored at a later point when another girl will be singing something from High School Musical in the future which was sweet. They also play tracks popular at the time to give you a feel of the time. Also the fashion is a bit of an indication - the whole gypsy peasant blouse his mum wears at the start was a thing at the turn of the millennium... Coming back to the film in the future it would basically stand as a kind of reminder of what this period was like, not just for the family involved but for everyone, it draws on nostalgia as much as anything else, kind of like a historical novel set in a time just gone by.
The film follows Mason Jr, a kid who by the grace of God actually turned out to be a very convincing actor, but then that could spark a debate of nature/nurture, having spent nearly all of his life acting in this film was it predestined that he would be a good actor or was it the time spent chronicling his existence which made him into a good actor? Could be either but I would guess at the latter to be perfectly honest. The film drew on the lead's experiences and his own growth as a driving force and you could say the character and the actor are inextricably linked, but of course the actor didn't have the same experiences as the character to define him. The film made me think so hard about all this stuff, and to be honest anything that makes my brain whir with activity like this is due my respect. Sticking with the acting, Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play the kid's parents. Ms Arquette has definitely grown as an actor over the years and by the end of the film she is yanking at my heartstrings and stamping them on the floor, I was so deeply affected by her performance in those later years (early on it's pretty rough going...).
I really can't express how different an experience this film is. What we learn about the main character is subtly expressed, and then as he grows before our eyes and becomes more aware he articulates how his experiences have shaped him, and we know because we've seen them happen, it's just wonderful and rewarding for me at least.
At this point I would just highly recommend and it and tell anyone to see it because it's a worthwhile experience and I loved it.
