Preface

• Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I see an absurd amount of movies.
  • Christmas is usually where I make the cut for the year and make my Top 10 Best and Top 5 worst.
    • Sorry everyone who wants me to review “Into the Woods” before the end of the year…
  • So the first one that I’ve seen in this insane span of time is the “moving 12 year epic” that is Boyhood!
  • And it’s pretty decent.

Direction

• Direction is usually one of my later points, but Richard Linklater is the star of this movie.
• If you guys didn’t hear, Boyhood was shot for a little bit every summer, each summer, for 12 years, and it just wrapped last year.
• Do I believer Boyhood will get nominated for Best Picture?
  • It could, but it may not.
  • Do I believe Richard Linklater will get nominated for Best Director?
    • I bet anything.
  • Linklater had guts to go to a studio and say, “man, twelve years from now this is gonna pay off!”
  • And it did! The film is shot absurdly well.
  • The way the movie looks is SOOOOO consistent, which blows me away.
    • By that, I mean this: I was expecting the first few minutes to look like the iffy quality American Pie was shot in, and the last few minutes to have the glorious feel of Prisoners.
    • But the entire film is in extremely good quality, which blew me away.
  • Props to Richard Linklater, and even if he doesn’t win Best Director, I’m pretty confident he’ll be nominated.

Cast and Characters

• The real star of this movie is the kid, played by Ellar Coltrane (yes, I had to look that up).
  • His character is a pretty emotion-less kid, which could be pretty hard to connect with sometimes, but you do get why.
    • This type of personality is kinda weird to grasp early on, but when the actor is about 14 you start to see it transcend into a character.
  • I think Ellar Coltrane really brings what he’s got to this character, which isn’t much at first, but really develops it later on.
    • He isn’t Oscar worthy by any means, and he probably won’t even break further into Hollywood, but his portrayal of Mason was really well done.
  • Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke are the two real actors in this movie and I loved both of them.
    • Patricia Arquette playing the mom was really heartbreaking sometimes (again, not Oscar worthy, but really solid), and she played the role really well.
    • Ethan Hawke as the dad was my favorite character in the film, and he showed the most development and eloquence.
  • Simply put: every actor in this film gives a really solid performance.
    • Which is a complement, since most of them are unknowns.

Plot/Theme

• I put plot and theme together on this one because they’re intertwined.
• When I was watching the movie I felt like I was watching a series of short films, which worked really well compiled together.
  • In short, there really isn’t a definitive plot.
• The film deals more with events and milestones in the life of a family, and what they all mean.
• It’s actually the reflection of the film that makes it more special.
  • When you think of Boyhood, you think of all the milestones you’ve passed in your own life, and the ones still coming.
  • You think of what it means to be a kid again, and what it was like growing up.
  • You think what is the point of life?
    • It’s not just one point, but several points. Several points in time that make up one life.
  • This movie showed great themes through its timing and less through its plot.

In Conclusion

• In conclusion, Boyhood really was a different film unlike many I’ve seen.
• It reminded me A LOT of The Spectacular Now, only it deals with a family.
  • Or maybe The Spectacular Now meets Good Will Hunting?
• Boyhood was an extremely deep film that barely leaves the shallow water, in the most inventive way possible.
• All of the actors are great and I’m interested in seeing what many of them do next.
• I don’t know that this is one of my favorite films of the year, I don’t even think it makes my Top 10 (I’ve seen A LOT of movies this year), but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an extraordinary film.
• I’m gonna give Boyhood the “I’d See It Again” rating, even though it’s only replay value may be in a film class.

4/5

• Perfect family film for this Thanksgiving season!

***

So guys, those are my thoughts on Boyhood. What are your thoughts? Let me know down below, and as always, thanks for reading guys.