Film: Boyhood

GENRE: Drama

RATING: R for language, sexual references, drug use
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 45minutes

STARRING: Patricia Arquette (True Romance, Medium)

Ellar Coltrane (Fast Food Nation), Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise)

DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater  (A Scanner Darkly, Before Sunset)

WRITER: Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Midnight)

PLOT: With his parents divorced, see  life through the eyes of Mason from age five to eighteen.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:

1 The idea of shooting this film over twelve years is nothing short of brilliant. There’s a naturalness to the aging that can only be captured by watching the characters (and the actors who play them) mature slowly. Take a look at some of the top critic comments at Rotten Tomatoes (100% rating) if you have any doubt that this movie has changed filmmaking as we know it.

2 Linklater lucked out with Coltrane who grows into quite the impressive actor, although he is pretty sweet at age five as well. He kind of reminded me of Shane Botwin (Alexander Gould) from Weeds. Also, it’s interesting to see his different hairstyles through the years.

3 The writing is fantastic. Since many conversation were based on what Coltrane was going through at the time, it comes across as completely improvised and sometimes even documentary-like in places. Kudos Linklater.

4 While most of the almost three hours fly by, his last couple years drag on a little too long. Sure, there is some great insights, but I would have preferred a tighter closing act.

5 Texas 16^th birthday gifts: Bible and a shotgun?  Sounds about right.

RECOMMENDATION: It deserves your money, see it in theatres

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Guardians of the Galaxy