Boyhood, 2014
Running time 165 minutes
Director & screenwriter Richard Linklater
Cinematography Shane Kelly, Lee Daniel

It’s too bad that more people can’t watch this movie as I did with no preparation beyond seeing the movie poster and trailer in the theatre and noting the 2&3/4 hour running time.

Watching it at home, I expected to take a break part of the way through the movie but I was MESMERIZED by it and watched through in one sitting. When the final credits were rolling I pored over them looking for the names of the actors who portrayed the children as they aged (brother and sister Mason and Samantha)over the course of the 12 years but only one name was listed for each character. I couldn’t believe it…I looked up the critiques of the film online and learned that the film-maker Richard Linklater did make the film as an ongoing project over the course of 12 years while his lead actors Elar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater aged the appropriate years as their respective characters aged in the film. This is incredible and unprecedented in my film-going experience. The only thing like it was Michael Apted’s “Seven Up” documentary series from 1964-on which featured a group of 14 British children (initially) filmed in episodes spanning 49 years- one episode every seven years. Linklater’s film is put together to give the semblance of a continuous story and , I repeat myself- the result is incredible.

Film actors have portrayed the same chacter in successive films- Raymond Massey portrayed Abraham Lincoln on four occasions on stage, film and television. Peter O’toole portrayed English monarch Henry II twice in “Becket”(1964) and “The Lion in Wonter”(1968). Bette Davis portrayed Elizabeth I twice in “Elizabeth and Essex” (1939) and “the Virgin Queen”(1955)– a feat duplicated by both Glenda Jackson and Cate Blanchett as the same character., but I digress…What the young people in this movie do is absolutely unprecedented and that coupled with Linklater’s conception and direction make this movie VERY compelling. Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke portray the parents and are both great.

Ethan Hawke starred in at least two other Richard Linklater projects (Before Sunset and Before Midnight ) in the years while Boyhood was being put together.
Director/screenwriter Richard Linklatertook an National Society of Film critics Award for Best Screenplayfor ast years Before Midnight in which he also appeared in front of the camera. He won an Experimental Film award from the same peole years earlier for 2002’s Waking Life.

For his audacity and perseverance in putting this film together he richly deserves more recognition. So , in the words of our theatre manager, “check it out”

LINKS
imdb.com/title/tt/1065073/
rottentomatoes.com/m/boyhood/
metacritic.com/movie/boyhood/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/film-reviews/four-stars-for-boyhood-an-experimental-film-that-evokes-recognition-melancholy-and-joy/article19653349/