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- Neil Middlemiss
Director Richard Linklater’s celebrated film experiment, Boyhood, understands the antagonism of siblings and the uncertainties of youth, and though dramatically we watch a young boy deal with these uncertainties, what forms through the prism of imperfect parenting (is there any other kind?) is a view of love, loyalty, struggle and celebration. With the same actors reprising their roles from time to time over a 12 year period to bring about the unique experiences of growing up, the world we see around us as young boys and girls is openly explored and even fondly admired.
Studio: Anchor Bay
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, Spanish 5.1 DD
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Rating: R
Run Time: 164 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, UltraViolet
Standard Case with SleeveDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: A
Release Date: 01/06/2015
MSRP: $39.99
The Production Rating: 4.5/5
“You know how everyone's always saying seize the moment? I don't know, I'm kind of thinking it's the other way around, you know, like the moment seizes us.”
Mason (played by newcomer Ellar Coltrane) is for the most part a typical young boy. He lives with his mother and older sister, his Father visits from time to time, and he exists in and watches the world around him. We watch mason grow up, witnessing moments in his life over 12 years, adjusting to the eddies of life, moving from state to state, adjusting to his mother’s struggles with work, studying and men, getting to know his untethered father, and growing into, and through, the stages of boyhood.
Boyhood isn’t a traditional narrative. It features moments over twelve years that a young man might remember of his childhood. Not the rote moments that romanticize childhood from the movies, but unpredictable, even unlikely moments that etch themselves indelibly in our memories. As such, Boyhood briskly moves through several periods in young Mason’s life and doesn’t outstay its welcome in any one period of experience. Moments such as an encounter in the boy’s restroom at school at the hands of two bullies is brief, and not revisited, or his mother meeting a man for the first time at a party are often left behind, narratively speaking, as we explore something several weeks, months or years later. What this skipping approach offers is something that in sum is entirely rewarding; the accumulation of those slices or life and memory punctuating the corners of remembered childhood experiences. Some elements become recurring or continuing threads, others slices exists as single stones that make a splash in the boy’s life but then sink out of sight. It’s a beautiful idea, naturally and simply realized. There isn’t a clever of heavy plot twist or thread at play here. Quite the opposite. And I hesitate to call it a tapestry of the life of a young boy because we see more than fragments that make up a whole. But Boyhood is elevated by this assembly of dashes of life.
Aside from the novel approach of filming over 12 years, Boyhood embraces its simplicity, assembling a solid cast fully committed to their characters and the somewhat risky approach to capturing scenes over an extended period. It is clear Linklater pulls from real-life experiences from his cast to craft the moments in the film, and the invested cast bring a great deal of natural talent and welcome perspective to the proceedings. Patricia Arquette as the mum, overworked and underappreciated – by her children, ex-husband, and the love interests that come into, and out of her life – delivers a wonderful, honest performance and has rightly been recognized with awards, including the Golden Globe for Actress in a Supporting Role and an Academy Award nomination in the same category. Ethan Hawke’s growth over the 12-year span is fascinating to watch. Introduced as a distant, selfish father-figure, he embraces his role as the dad with relatively infrequent visitation, and through the course of 12 years is shown to impart enough advice and freedom to be a stabilizing figure in his children’s young lives. Director Richard Linklater cast his daughter, Lorelei, as Mason’s brother, Samantha. Her role in the film is to be a frequent spoil to Mason (the way that all boys likely see their older sister,) and she does fine here. Ellar Coltrane’s evolving performance as Mason is laid back, almost shy, and as such is somewhat unsung. We get the feeling that we’re not watching a young actor perform on camera, but rather a young boy experiencing life under the gaze of the lens. As the film closes and Mason he reflects upon life one more time for us, the departure from his boyhood is complete and adulthood has officially arrived. In that moment, Coltrane’s natural and humanly awkward (and not uncommon) portrayal is in full stride.
Boyhood is a film unlike just about everything else out there. It isn’t a film with a middle, beginning and end, it isn’t the story of a young boy in the key moments of his life. It’s a peek into the life of a young boy over twelve years, touching on moments in his life, many unremarkable to the outside world, but important in some way to the boy – almost as if they are the flashes of memory one might have looking back over who we were growing up. That quality, slices and chunks of boyhood, makes Linklater’s film remarkable – and of such surprising weight that it will sit with you long after you’ve stepped away from it.
Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4.5/5
Special Features Rating: 2.5/5
The 12 Year Project
Q&A With Richard Linklater and the Cast
DVD copy of the Film (Disc Two)
Digital HD (UV) Copy of the Film
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
There’s a drifting quality to Boyhood, easing through the years, touching on small but important moments in a young boys life, created, filmed, and produced with a beautiful, natural honesty.
Reviewed By: Neil Middlemiss
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