Boyhood -- Movie Review #JPMN

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• Boyhood (2014) -- Unique techniques craft a wonderful experience about growing up, 9/10.

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Your host, and film critic Jonathan Paula reviews everything from opening day releases, recent DVDs, upcoming trailers, and classics from years past.

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• Jogwheel Productions © 2014 •

~~ Review Script ~~
Following a strong showing at Sundance, this extremely ambitious project from director Richard Linklater was released theatrically on July 11, 2014. The coming-of-age drama film was produced on a small budget of only $4 million, and has already scored back ten-times than amount at the box office. Shot intermittently over an eleven-year period from 2002 until 2013, we're treated to a truly unique experience, as we watch the talented Ellar Coltrane literally grow up right before our eyes. Co-star Ethan Hawke remarked on this captivating approach by saying, "It's a little bit like timelapse photography of a human being." The lengthy 165-minute narrative follows six-year-old Coltrane until he sets off for college 12 years later. Forced to undergo all of the awkward and embarrassing phases of adolescent and puberty in a feature film can't be easy, but Coltrane is an endearing and relatable protagonist. Aging alongside him is Patricia Arquette as his determined mother, Lorelei Linklater as the typical older sister, and Hawke as the absent ex-husband and dad. This core group turn in some excellent performances, that really carry emotional weight as their lives drift from one milestone to another. Plenty of other characters float in and out too, and much like real life: they don't always get a proper introduction or goodbye, they merely exist as players in the story of our lives for a few scenes, never to be heard from again. Thanks to its interesting production calendar, a large majority of the R-rated script evolved as they filmed... resulting in a very organic, if incohesive narrative. Indeed, "Boyhood" is very inconsistently paced; moving through the grade school years within 30 minutes, but spending over 90 minutes when Ellar when finally attends high school. Throughout it all we follow Coltrane, as he deals with a parade of dysfunctional father figures, drugs, girlfriends, video games, moving away from home, and discovering his ambitions. No matter how or where you raised, there are aspects of his character everyone can identify with. He's not the strongest kid, or most confident teenager... just an average American boy experiencing the struggles of growing up. The events of his turbulent upbringing unravel in small vignettes. They're an honest, un-manipulated view of life; perfectly encapsulating all the highs and lows of childhood. A campfire scene filmed in 2008, which sees Coltrane and Hawke debating the then-unknown future of the "Star Wars" franchise is a particularly amusing scene, that feels so natural... and it's exactly something my Dad and I would have been talking about when we were their age. Another fantastic father-son chat late in the picture puts a nice bow on everything, when Coltrane flatly asks, "What's the point". Hawke's response, "We're all just winging it." is a good of a explanation as any. Unfortunately, the film doesn't end on that high note, but instead drags on for another 15 minutes... that fail to add any real value to the story. Linklater's steady and unobtrusive cinematography allows the talented actors to dictate the energy and direction of each scene. With no original score of its own, the film smartly includes plenty of popular music from across the years: quickly providing context to when each moment takes place. It's weird to call any story set during the 21st-century a "period" film, but that's precisely what this feels like. Definitely worth seeing at least once, if not for its incredible filmmaking methods, than for its compelling characters. Although it lacks some focus, this an effortless narrative that has a nostalgic quality to that is impossible ignore. "Boyhood" utilizes unique techniques to craft a wonderful experience about growing up.
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