Boyhood
Posted by Itheliving 9 years, 10 months ago to Movies
Boyhood / Rated R for language, drinking, smoking, sex, violence and some bad stuff.
Boyhood is another Oscar contender that opened a while back then disappeared. Mid August 2014 to be exact. It has just won the Golden Globes Award for Best Film Drama. People are starting to notice and Oscars may be in the near future. It is all about a young boy growing up amongst dysfunctional adults in Texas. It covers a lads life from the age of 6 to 18. It stars Ellar Coltrane and several other folks. The film was shot over a 45 day period which began in May of 2002 and ended in August of 2013. Not because of a massive and recurring sick out. It took that long because they use the same people throughout the 11 year storyline to show us the main character from the age of 6 to 18 in 143 different scenes.
Sound like a bizarre gimmick? Does it work? Yes and no. I thought this was some kind of actual documentary of a kid growing up from grade 1 to high school graduation. It is not a documentary. The story which begins in 2002 and ends in 2013 moves from time to time without telling us on screen what period that have reached. Historical events on screen give us clues but they are careful to make everyone up to sometimes look a little older and sometimes a little younger which makes the progression and storyline seamless. Watching young EC is especially interesting as the little kid becomes a young man right before our very eyes.
EC plays Mason who goes through all the trials and tribulations of a kid growing up in Texas. His mom is played by Patricia Arquette and his dad by Ethan Hawke. Watch them also gain weight and lose hair over the 11 year shooting schedule. In many ways this is not only a remarkable film but one that had many inherent challenges. Director and writer Richard Linklater had to have an agreement that in case of his own death Ethan Hawke would finish directing the film. Also you cannot have a personal contract with anyone in the USofA that legally is longer than 7 years. This means if anyone decided to drop out or were injured or killed large problems might stop the film from being completed. For us in the audience they lucked out. The film was finished.
The main drawback to Boyhood is that much of the film is devoted to tacky and sleazy real life type soap opera. You are going to find a lot of the dysfunctional adults not very likable or admirable. The film also has a running time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is a long time to sit through a lot of drawn out sleazy and uncomfortable scenes to watch. Still I recommend this film just for it’s audacity to try something completely different.
Rated 3.5 out of 4.0 reasons to appreciate how devoted and lucky everyone involved in the project were.
Boyhood is another Oscar contender that opened a while back then disappeared. Mid August 2014 to be exact. It has just won the Golden Globes Award for Best Film Drama. People are starting to notice and Oscars may be in the near future. It is all about a young boy growing up amongst dysfunctional adults in Texas. It covers a lads life from the age of 6 to 18. It stars Ellar Coltrane and several other folks. The film was shot over a 45 day period which began in May of 2002 and ended in August of 2013. Not because of a massive and recurring sick out. It took that long because they use the same people throughout the 11 year storyline to show us the main character from the age of 6 to 18 in 143 different scenes.
Sound like a bizarre gimmick? Does it work? Yes and no. I thought this was some kind of actual documentary of a kid growing up from grade 1 to high school graduation. It is not a documentary. The story which begins in 2002 and ends in 2013 moves from time to time without telling us on screen what period that have reached. Historical events on screen give us clues but they are careful to make everyone up to sometimes look a little older and sometimes a little younger which makes the progression and storyline seamless. Watching young EC is especially interesting as the little kid becomes a young man right before our very eyes.
EC plays Mason who goes through all the trials and tribulations of a kid growing up in Texas. His mom is played by Patricia Arquette and his dad by Ethan Hawke. Watch them also gain weight and lose hair over the 11 year shooting schedule. In many ways this is not only a remarkable film but one that had many inherent challenges. Director and writer Richard Linklater had to have an agreement that in case of his own death Ethan Hawke would finish directing the film. Also you cannot have a personal contract with anyone in the USofA that legally is longer than 7 years. This means if anyone decided to drop out or were injured or killed large problems might stop the film from being completed. For us in the audience they lucked out. The film was finished.
The main drawback to Boyhood is that much of the film is devoted to tacky and sleazy real life type soap opera. You are going to find a lot of the dysfunctional adults not very likable or admirable. The film also has a running time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is a long time to sit through a lot of drawn out sleazy and uncomfortable scenes to watch. Still I recommend this film just for it’s audacity to try something completely different.
Rated 3.5 out of 4.0 reasons to appreciate how devoted and lucky everyone involved in the project were.
