As a film aficionado, cinephile, call me what you will, I have an appreciation for all genres of film. I may not care for certain titles, but I am appreciative that those involved made the best film they possibly could, even if I don’t agree. For many watchers of movies they have their favorite genres, actors, et al., and will rarely stray outside their own preconceived level of comfort.
Then there’s a film like Boyhood that brings with it a premise interesting enough to have people leave their comfort zones.
Having sung its praises at the South by Southwest Film Festival, I’ve been anxiously awaiting its July 11th, 2014 release so that I can see it again.
Universal Pictures UK recently dropped the trailer for international audiences and it does a splendid job setting up the ambitious adventure writer/director Richard Linklater and his main cast committed themselves to do over the course of twelve years. Starting at the age of six we as the audience get to see the fictional character Mason grow up, as well as seeing the actor himself (Ellar Coltrane) take that same trip. Check it out.
Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, BOYHOOD charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay’s Yellow to Arcade Fire’s Deep Blue. BOYHOOD is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. It’s impossible to watch Mason and his family without thinking about our own journey.
