EXPERIENCE IT!
Movie Review – “Boyhood”
Review by Ray Schillaci
I’m probably late to the game, but that does not prevent me from singing the praises of the best film (so far) of 2014. Unfortunately, timing was never right for me (until recently) to see director Richard Linklater’s cinematic historical breakthrough, “Boyhood”. It was the closing night film at the Phoenix Film Festival and I only had forty minutes before a back injury prevented me from enjoying the rest of the screening.
Then as life continues to throw curveballs at one, you tend to forget to catch the films you so desperately wanted to see and eventually just wait until they come out on the home video market. I, along with a majority of the movie going public, tend to save the large scale films with big sound and even larger effects for the wide screen. Once in a while giving in to guilty pleasures (some, a rom-com, others horror, etc.). Generally, we save our dollars and wait for the smaller films to reach Redbox or Netflix. But that would be a BIG mistake with “Boyhood”.
Do you remember the old adage, “Good things come in small packages”? Well, Richard Linklater’s opus to the pangs and joys of growing up as a young boy, and trying to find one’s self over a period of twelve years is a prime example of that proverb. There is something to be said about the power of simplicity and intimacy on the big screen and sharing it with others. That experience can be amazingly rewarding in the right hands and not only is the director a craftsman at his art, but so is his entire cast and crew, delivering something very unique into our own lives.
How did I eventually get around to seeing “Boyhood”? Well, not only was my interest peaked by the wonderful reviews the film garnered, but it proved to have tremendous staying power for a little independent. The film opened in July and is till playing in theaters. Oh yeah, and there was that interesting little caveat that director Linklater made movie history by filming his creation over a period of twelve years, using the same actors, including starting off with his star, Ellar Coltrane as Marcus, a five year-old boy the film centers around, who grows to the age of eighteen before our eyes.
Watching these actors grow and age over the two hour and forty-six minute running time is not just fascinating, it’s down right remarkable. And, what is even more impressive is that our attention never wavers throughout that length of time. Not one person left the theater after the film started until the end of the movie. The audience was transfixed and even those that needed a restroom break refused to take one for fear of missing out on one nuanced moment.
Linklater has captured such painful and truthful moments in so many people’s lives that it nearly becomes a cathartic experience for the audience. We watch in awe of Patricia Arquette’s single mom battling to just keep her head above water; juggling raising two kids, getting herself a better education and maintaining a job. She also does battle with the bad choices of men in her life including her very likable ex (Ethan Hawke) as the part time/good time dad who espouses his own set of wisdom to his kids and really tries hard to be a better person for them.
Ethan Hawke’s portrayal of our lead character’s father is not a simple one-note character as so many have brought to the screen before. He, along with his wife, struggles to grow and mature. He realizes he married too early. He is all-too-familiar with his foibles, but what makes us like him so much is that this dad is willing to improve. He cares about his children. Yeah, he can be a bit of a flake, but he’s nowhere near unlikeable as the men that enter his ex-wife’s life later.
Even the mom’s later partners are multi-dimensional. They appear as good, strong father figures to Marcus in the beginning, but with each introduction there is hesitation, and through Marcus’ eyes we soon see why. The movie demonstrates how children tend to have a unique foresight that escapes their parents, who can get caught up in somebody that appears to be a secure individual. These men in his mom’s life are not just simply evil, they are troubled and struggle with their own inner demons that eventually catch up with them.
Through all of this, director Linklater adds to the mix realistic and funny sibling rivalry between Marcus and his sister Samantha, played by Lorelei Linklater, who starts off as a combination of adorable and obnoxious, and later grows into a young lady with her own set of conflicts. But by no means with all the character arcs does director Linklater ever lose sight of whose story this is.
Never before have we seen the portrayal of such natural growth, physically and mentally, from a person as we do with Marcus. We feel his awkwardness jumping from school to school, his frustration with his mother constantly being on the move and rarely settling in one place, and his struggles in finding himself, and later his people. Marcus’ odyssey is a journey that we as an audience rarely experience.
Richard Linklater has captured the kind of film that so many revered in the ’70s. He delivers an independent feel that seeks out truths and delivers real people with all their blemishes and beauty. Every scene feels organic and so realistic that it causes audiences to relate, eliciting laughter and tears. To share that in a theater, and in the end have your breath taken away as you are compelled to applaud, is a rare find in a movie going experience. That is why “Boyhood” is a marvel to behold and a must to share on the big screen.
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Release Date: July 11, 2014
Run Time: 165 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: R
Distributor: IFC Entertainment
