Boyhood Movie Review

This film was made over the course of 12 years. Even if the movie sucked, it still would have had my respect because that is just something to admire...

Boyhood is written and directed by Richard Linklater and was filmed over the course of 12 years. The movie follows a boy named Mason from when he is 5 years old until he becomes 18 and essentially shows various moments within his life which come to define who he is as a person. The film, as mentioned previously, was shot over 12 years with the same actors playing the same characters. It is because of this Boyhood captures the essence of growing up and all the problems which come with it so naturally and authentically. There isn't anything out there quite like Boyhood.

The film is a very easy watch at times because it is so easy to connect to if you are a mother, father or a child who is about to breach into adulthood. It is a movie in which everyone can connect to and is a hard movie to find any faults with.

The acting is very good across the board and everyone puts in a fine performance over the 12 year period which Linklater filmed it. Ellar Coltrane plays Mason and his performance matures as the film progresses and as he grows up himself. Richard Linklater's daughter plays Mason's sister and the brother/sister dynamic they have is as authentic as it could have been and their relationship always mimicked that of an actual brother and sister.

Ethan Hawke is also very good in the movie but my favourite performance is Patricia Arquette who plays Mason's mother. As a character she goes through a lot emotional trauma including a lot of heartbreak and bad life choices. She's truly phenomenal in her role and she probably puts in a performance up their with the best female one's so far in 2014.

The dialogue which the character's speak never feels like actor's are reading from a script. It always feels like dialogue in which 2 normal people would speak to each other in everyday conversations. The fact that Linklater kept that up for the entire film is really credit to how good of a writer he is. His directing is also fantastic and composes a lot of fantastic shots which also made for a visually splendid movie.

But the part of the film which I loved the most was that how it never rammed down your throat that the film had moved on a year through text prompters on the screen. I, as an audience member, had to figure these details out for myself by listening to the stuff they said, the clothes they wore, the social/political events going on and the music playing in the background. I always appreciate when a film leaves me with some thinking to do and Boyhood exactly did that.

This film isn't one for every movie goer out there and some may considering it boring. It is by no means a casual watch, plus doesn't really have a lot of replay value to it. Plus, the 2 hour 45 minute run time is a bit of a stretch and editing out 20 minutes of it wouldn't have been a bad call by those in the editing room.

However Boyhood is a movie which only really got to me as soon as the end credits started rolling. Only then did I grasp the message behind the movie; that small moments in your life are the important ones which define your character and your life, not the milestones we are expected to sequentially achieve. Only then did I realise that it was pretty great movie:


Rating - A-


1 sentence summary - It's a long one, but it shouldn't put you off from a movie in which everyone can connect to!


I think we may have an early contender for Best Picture...

Thanks for reading,
Matt