Boyhood ***** (2014, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane) – Movie Review

Writer-director Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is a five-star marvel, probably the best film I’ve seen all year, or at least the one I liked, admired, enjoyed and relished most. It’s the perfect antidote to all the fake emotion of The Fault in Our Stars.

Almost unbelievably shot in sequence over a period of 12 years, Boyhood is seen mostly through the eyes of Mason Jr, intensely played by Ellar Coltrane, who ages from six to 18 as the ambitious, ground-breaking, labour-of-love film moves seamlessly through the years. How did Linklater know 12 years ago this six-year-old kid would turn into a decent actor, or even still want to be involved in making the film? It’s all a question of faith and trust, I guess.

Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke are brilliant as the boy’s divorced parents, giving probably their best ever performances, and Linklater’s daughter Lorelei is effective as Mason’s older sister. They’re so naturalistic, understated and poignant that it hurts. With these performances, you never even once think you’re watching a fictional movie. It’s always like watching somebody’s home movie, amusingly, painfully, movingly up, close and personal.

The bitter-sweet script’s wise and witty, funny and sad. The two and ¾ hours just rush by as snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations are set to a great soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay’s Yellow to Arcade Fire’s Deep Blue.

An emotional onslaught, it sends you home reeling and, good lord, thinking. As it wraps up and comes to conclusions about life, is the ending essentially depressing or positive, or just a bit upbeat? Take from the movie what you will, or what you can. There’s wisdom as well as entertainment here. On no account miss it.

It’s nominated for six Oscars, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and won three Golden Globes, for Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress. Patricia Arquette triumphed at the Academy Awards by scoring a much-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar, though disappointingly it was the film’s only win.

Ethan Hawke also stars in Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight trilogy.

http://derekwinnert.com/before-sunrise-1995-richard-linklater-classic-film-review-857/

http://derekwinnert.com/before-sunset-2004-richard-linklater-classic-film-review-858/

http://derekwinnert.com/before-midnight-film-review/

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/