Boyhood
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke
165 mins; Class 15;
KRS Releasing Ltd

Every so often a film comes along that breaks the mould, reminding us that the cinema can be a powerful storytelling tool. A script borne of simplicity and honesty will find its way to the heart and soul of the viewer.

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is one such rare beast... a film that has captured the hearts of audiences and critics and that should, if there is any justice in this world, dominate the upcoming awards season.

Linklater is a fiercely independent American director who never succumbed to the temptations offered by the mainstream.

He has created, instead, a series of eloquent films throughout his career that are mostly about ordinary people and their lives, their encounters, the highs and lows.

The list includes his acclaimed debut Slacker (1991), cult hit Dazed and Confused (1993) and Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, made between 1995 and 2013.

This trilogy intimately re-counted the relationship between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy).

Boyhood follows the life of its protagonist Mason as he – and startlingly, the actor that plays him, Eller Coltrane – grows from a six-year-old moppet to a young man in his first year of college.

In a nutshell, Linklater and his cast got together for a while every year from 2002 to 2013, filming Mason’s story a little bit at a time.

A fiercely independent director who never succumbed to the temptations offered by the mainstream

It is a fascinating experiment that succeeds absolutely, thanks to the perfect fusion of all the elements that created it.

Linklater’s script eloquently captures the ordinariness of life, his ability to extract first-class unforced and natural performances from his cast and said cast’s wholehearted commitment to the project.

Ellar Coltrane portraying the same character in Boyhood over 12 years of filming.Ellar Coltrane portraying the same character in Boyhood over 12 years of filming.

Boyhood has no plot per se and that is one of the film’s main attractions. Rather than following a story, we are participants in the lives of these people, the minutiae of which are something we can all relate to. The film can best be described as a collage of snapshots of Mason’s life.

That said, it is so much more than a series of scenes depicting the passing years. Linklater’s characters are richly and realistically drawn and, as they grow older, they are shaped by the people and events around them, resulting in an organic and authentic development.

Mason is clearly an intelligent kid who lives through his parents’ breakup and mother’s subsequent relationships stoically. He becomes all the more strong for it. His mother Olivia (Patricia Arquette) juggles single parenthood, the pursuance of her own dreams and ambitions and a penchant for choosing the wrong man; Mason Snr. (Hawke, a Linklater favourite) makes sporadic appearances in his children’s life, while Mason’s older sister Samantha is bossy, annoying and opinionated – but clearly the strongest member of this family, even at age eight.

The years blend seamlessly into one another. Linklater uses unobtrusive pop culture, political and social pointers to hint at the year we are in.

Apart from the sublime soundtrack – where Coldplay, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and many modern artists sit extremely well together – we see an original Apple iMac that looks so old-fashioned now, with its huge box-screen monitor; the 2008 election and Obama-mania; excitement at the release of the latest Harry Potter book… all coming together to form a solid family portrait as Mason comes of age.

A scene where Masons Snr and Jnr discuss the possibility of new Star Wars movies will raise a chuckle, clearly it was filmed before news of the latest trilogy was announced.

Linklater has a penchant for attracting top Hollywood talent to his little features and he is exceptionally well served by Arquette and Hawke.

Like the younger actors, the veterans age considerably in front of the camera and they do so uninhibitedly.

In Arquette’s performance we see the struggles faced by this single mother etched on her face while she does her best for her kids.

Hawke encapsulates the world-weariness of a man unable to take on the responsibilities required of him for these children he so loves, yet can’t commit too wholeheartedly because he refuses to grow up.

Lorelei Linklater captures the mood swings and emotional roundabouts of a growing girl, and has, unsurprisingly, created an unshakeable bond with her brother.

And yet, the glue that holds the film together is Coltrane, a young boy who we literally see grow up before our very eyes and who wins us over very early on in the story.

He loses his cute-as-a-button soft young boy looks to grow into the intelligent, sharp-looking young man who closes the story.

It is a remarkable feat he has undertaken, growing in stature, in emotions – in a word growing from boyhood into manhood; and hopefully into a career where we will see more of him in future.

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