Review: BOYHOOD

BOYHOOD  (DRAMA) 
4 out 4 stars
Directed by Richard Linklater
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Lorelei Linklater, Steven Prince, Libby Villari, Brad Hawkins, Zoe Graham, Jenni Tooley, Richard Jones, Karen Jones
Rated R for language including sexual references, and for teen drug and alcohol use.
165 minutes
Verdict: One of the most audacious creations of cinema in recent memory, Richard Linklater's greatest strengths as a filmmaker have pulled together to form an incredible human drama full of reality, but not bogged down by it, and an engaging meditation on the lives we lead.
YOU MAY ENJOY BOYHOOD IF YOU LIKED:
BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013)
BEFORE SUNSET (2004)
BEFORE SUNRISE (1995)
MUD (2012)
DEFINITELY, MAYBE (2008)
 
Casual moviegoers may not be familiar with the name Richard Linklater, but most of them are probably familiar with at least one of his films.  His 2003 family comedy SCHOOL OF ROCK may be his best-known film, but as good as SCHOOL OF ROCK may be, Linklater's filmography is even more remarkable in the independent filmmaking arena.  His film trilogy of BEFORE SUNRISE, BEFORE SUNSET and last year's BEFORE MIDNIGHT, sometimes dubbed "The Before Trilogy," is one of the best movie love stories ever created, notable for a dialogue-driven style as the central couple of Jesse and Celine stroll through European cities while expressing in-depth thoughts and feelings through conversation from both genders and across three life stages.  In a sense, the Before trilogy is experimental, while never feeling that way, such as MY DINNER WITH ANDRE does.  Now, Linklater's strength at crafting a long-term story and the relationships that evolve within that, as he's previously displayed in the Before films, and his smart period storytelling for which he first received wide acclaim in his 1993 ode to the aimless youth of the 1970s DAZED AND CONFUSED, have come together in a landmark of independent filmmaking.  BOYHOOD, advertised on the poster as "12 Years in the Making," is an unusual epic, an intimate and vastly-scoped 12-year slice of life that you've never seen the like of which before and are doubtful to see again.
Ellar Coltrane plays Mason, a quiet and gentle boy living in Texas, who come first meet at the age of five.  His mother (Patricia Arquette) and father (Ethan Hawke) are divorced, and he lives with his mother and his older sister Samantha (played by Linklater's own daughter, Lorelei Linklater).  Mason and Samantha only see their shiftless, irresponsible, but loving dad occasionally, and their well-meaning mother tends to gravitate towards bad men.  Over the course of twelve years, from 2002 to 2014, we see Mason grow up, along with his family, dealing with everyday issues like school, family drama, making friends, bonding, learning and so on. 
At a 165 minutes, it's lengthy, but never boring, nor exhausting, as the film sort of drifts along like life, albeit at a heightened pace, full of relatable moments.  It's not about the obvious landmarks of life, but rather about the little, often overlooked markers through childhood and adolescence.  As a character contemplates, it's not us seizing the moments, as much as it's the moments that seize us. 
The much-reported "gimmick" is how the film was filmed over a 12-year process, from 2002 to 2014, with the same cast returning year after year to shoot new scenes, most notably Coltrane, who began filming the film's earliest scenes at age five and finished filming the last scenes at the age of 19.  I'm only a few years older than the Mason character myself, so there's a lot of direct familiarity to the occasional pop culture touchstones that appear at times in the film, such as the well-picked soundtrack which includes pop songs timed to the year scenes take place in, or new Star Wars movies and new Harry Potter books, and internet video phenomenons like Lady Gaga and Funny or Die's "The Landlord," which I remember sharing with my friends in school.  But there's also great stories going on with characters like Mason's mom and dad, both of whom evolve along their own character arcs, growing and wising as adults.
The background story of the film is incredible and full of audacity, to have created a fictional narrative that spans the course of over a decade, and no doubt adapting plans to present circumstances, such as scenes that correlate to distinct moments in recent history, and wrangling a 12-year shoot.  The end product is a chronicle of not only its characters, but of American life from 2002-2014 on an intimate stage, showing the political, economic and cultural shifts that affect lower middle-class families and how people interacted with their surroundings over these years.  But unlike the hokey melodramas of FORREST GUMP or LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER, it's not about the characters affecting the world, or even so much the world affecting the characters, but the characters understand ans exist in the world.  There's no nostalgic showboating, and the film takes historical moments as they come, a grace note to the immediate importance of people's own personal lives.  The uniqueness and audacity of this production is unlikely to be repeated any time soon, but those background details are ultimately only a means to an end anyway, and the end is a reflective, insightful and soothing slice of life spanning the years in which a boy becomes a man.