BOYHOOD – A PROFOUND FILM ABOUT ORDINARY LIFE
Now here’s an experimental labor of love that resulted in one of the year’s best films. Production for writer/director Richard Linklater’s new feature drama, Boyhood began in 2002, surely making it one of the longest running projects in cinematic history. Initially, you are struck by the mind-blowing casting of the young leads, then you realize it is the same actors growing up on the big screen! Snapshots of life are the film’s essence and the key to its success are the nuances, top notch acting and a well-crafted realistic script that charts the ups and downs of an American family.
Ethan Hawke, now a master of fast-paced dialogue, delivers a spot-on performance as Mason Sr., a stoner musician and divorced father of two. Who, in spite of his obvious love is not mature enough to accept the responsibilities of full time parenting. Hawke has a string of memorable one liners and musings. On being the non-custodial parent, he opines, “You cannot put me in that category, the biological father that I spend every week with and I make polite conversation with while he drives me places and buys me shit.”
Patricia Arquette (aging nicely) is equally believable as Mason’s ex-wife Olivia, a struggling single mother who is always on the move and has terrible taste in men. When she decides to return to her native Houston to enroll in night school, she meets and marries her Professor Bill Welbrock, brilliantly played by Marco Perella (Sin City). Bill has two children of his own and turns out to be a nasty drunk whose constant belligerence, bullying, and emotional abuse forces the family to split yet again. Then later on she marries another winner, an Iraq war Veteran with anger problems.
The gorgeous Ellar Coltrane plays Mason Jr. We first meet him at age six lying thoughtfully in the grass, coping with a fractured family life and a bratty sibling. Almost with a hint of voyeurism, we observe Mason Jr., a quiet character, yet he owns this story from start to finish. Coltrane is superb in every phase of his evolving life. Newcomer Lorelei Linklater (the filmmaker’s daughter) is a natural as Mason’s big sister Samantha. Sam is feisty and extroverted as a child but as time progresses, she objects to being constantly uprooted and moving from school to school – much like Wednesday Addams, she just wants to be “normal.”
When the kids become teenagers Olivia is a college professor and the family finally begin to shift gears. Mason Sr. also elevates by developing a more meaningful relationship with his children. Then he does a complete 180 degree turn and marries a religious woman and has a baby. In a poignant scene, Mason Jr. learns that his father traded in his vintage Pontiac GTO for a minivan, apparently forgetting that he had promised the precious car to his son on his sixteenth birthday. “No, I don’t remember,” Mason Sr. says. “I never said that.” “I remember,” says Mason Jr. and adds, “I was in third grade.” As Mason enters Freshman Year in college, we feel like we know him and can fully understand his mother’s brilliant meltdown as she contemplates this new chapter in his life. Linklater took a big risk with Coltrane and it paid off; his breakout performance will lead to plenty of offers and possibly an award or two.
Overall Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise) proves that he can do anything he wants to do. Apart from the long running time (2:45), this brilliant and unique narrative film explores life’s choices and the vagaries of growing up in a dysfunctional family without the use of flashbacks or playing out like a docu. The committed cast do justice to a fine script that audiences will identify with.
A cinematic feat, Boyhood is a cert to garner award nominations for acting, directing and screenplay.