Boyhood

Linklater week: movie #1 “I just thought there would be more” Now I wouldn’t consider this a perfect movie, but it is the first of its kind, the ultimate coming-of-age story. Here are some of the things I loved about this film: the absolute realism, no one was overacting. All the characters acting was extremely natural and a lot of them almost felt like people you’ve met before. I always love Linklaters slight extistensialism I think it’s something he clearly thinks about a lot I mean your art is a reflection of who you are; some of my favourite scenes in his films are where a characters questioning reality and it’s done beautifully and seamlessly in this movie. How did they pick a kid who would grow up to look so much like a young Ethan Hawk? One thing that speaks for itself is the dedication to the artistry the commitment to follow all these actors over years and years of their lives, and be able to go back and keep doing it because you know because the vision, he saw the bigger picture. There’s something almost not real about seeing into this much of someone’s life. One of the more underappreciated things, In this film is Linklaters ability to give you such a deep insight into these characters lives with only bits and pieces of what’s actually going on, for example; there’s only about two or three scenes when Mason‘s 12 years old, yet you almost feel and know everything that that’s going on in his environment and it doesn’t feel unnatural. It doesn’t feel like they’re just giving this information it’s earned, but earned in a way that makes complete sense. I think my favourite part of this film might be for me at least the relatability; I have two homes one with my dad and one with my mom much like these kids, and the dad character reminded me so much of my father it was so beautiful to see the divorced dad character portrayed as an amazing father who loves his kids instead of playing into “deadbeat” stereotypes.   Now there are things in this film that I think might not work for everyone, mind you the film is almost 3 hours and it definitely feels like it, but that’s cause there’s so much to say I think it’s impossible for this movie to be any shorter than it is. The acting doesn’t really feel like the type of Hollywood acting you’re used to, but have you ever met an awkward teenage boy, exactly. Overall, there’s so much to love about this movie  from the opening shot with “yellow” playing in the background, to the awkward mid-teen phases and right up to the end, going off to college. It’s beautifully done the realness elevates how I feel about the movie, the relatability of these characters makes it what it is.