Boyhood is not my kind of film at all, its not really about anything. Then again, its also kind of about everything. Richard Linklater chronicles the 12 year journey, not just of a boy but of a whole family, giving the film a sense of scope unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
Boyhood was filmed over the course of 12 years, keeping the central cast intact. The result is that the family grows before our eyes, both physically and emotionally. The film centres on Mason, his triumphs and failures, from first days of class and first kisses, to messy breakups and moving on. The title is somewhat misleading, in fact it was originally to be titled ’12 years’, Boyhood not only show’s Mason’s progression but also the lives of the family - the result is a film which will resonate with any audience.
The central role was the biggest risk, casting a child actor who would be with the project for 12 years meant gambling that the child would still want to participate and also would continue to develop as an actor. Ellar Coltrane was a very fortunate choice, in the earlier scenes he is an engaging presence on screen and as good as can be expected for a child actor. In later scenes he blossoms into a fine young actor, effortlessly portraying the angst and confusion of teenage year, while all the while hinting at the sweet nature that makes him so beloved of his family. As a character, Mason grows to be a rebellious teen in some respects, precocious bordering on pretentious. It is to Coltrane’s credit that his questioning of “the point of all this” is not so much tiresome as amusing, at least for myself as a former pretentious teen recognising some of myself in his musings. Ultimately, Coltrane gives a real performance, never seeming like the impossibly witty or outrageously awkward protagonists of so many teen films, instead he is a likeable lead to root for.
Linklater surrounds Mason with actors of the highest caliber, particularly his parents, played by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke. As Mason Sr, Hawke is charming and easy to love, although certainly not a perfect parent he displays thoroughly convincing warmth toward his two on screen children. Hawke also manages to convey a sense of being lost, a man with almost as much growing up to do as his son. Arquette, who won the Acadamy Award for best supporting Actress, is a more consistent presence in the film, she is a woman with a huge heart and an unfortunate talent for having it broken. Linklater cast his own daughter as Mason’s sister Samantha, the two demonstrate sibling rivalry that will be familiar to anyone with brothers or sisters. Mason’s life is filled with characters just as fleshed out as he, the world of Boyhood feels lived in as a result.
Part of the charm of the film is down to Linklater’s script, the dialogue serving to make the world and the characters believable rather than just to explain the plot. In fact, the audience is often left to figure out what has happened in the time not shown on screen, the scenes from Mason’s life that Linklater shows us are never like a montage, instead they are self contained moments that tell you all you need to know in that one scene. A great example is a scene where Mason is wooing a young girl by the pool at a high school party; the girl requires no introduction but is obviously emphatuated with the brooding boy, Mason himself seems almost unaware the effect he is having on her - so engrossed is he in his own musings on the nature of life. When we later see the pair on a road trip, she teases him about his serious nature while he acknowledges himself that he has a tendency to rant. At no point does anyone utter something like “I can’t believe we’ve been together 6 months”, instead we learn about their relationship through dialogue which both makes us laugh and rings true.
When writing reviews often I talk about ‘the world’ of the film, with Boyhood the surreal thing is to watch time passing in our own world. Over the course of the film we watch the phones get smaller and sleeker, we watch the haircuts and fashion change, and the soundtrack sticks always to music from the time period. On the surface this results in some knowing laughs at the way we were, however subconsciously the set dressing and soundtrack make the filmmaking invisible, drawing you into the film as if it were a home video. This style complements the direction and dialogue, this is not a film of cleanly drawn lines and archetypal characters, it does not deliver the “filmic moments” that we expect. One example is a scene where an adolescent Mason and friends are playing with a buzz saw blade, my friends and I were cringing in anticipation of some gruesome accident which Hollywood has taught us will surely happen. Instead, the scene plays out as if in real life, with Mason trying his hardest to look cool in front of older kids rather than being the hero in a moment of tragedy. As I said in my introduction, Boyhood is not the kind of film I typically watch, I’m used to 3 act structures and the satisfying way that plot threads pull together. Boyhood satisfies on a much more complex level, as we look at people who seem so real it is as though they walked in front of the cameras by accident. Of course it would not be at all interesting to watch random scenes from a life, Linklater’s script choses what to show the audience with purpose in mind, and developments leave us wanting to see what will happen next.
No film is perfect, and Boyhood has its problems. The issues I had with the film are mostly byproducts of its concept, when filming 12 years inevitably there are things that you miss and the film runs long. Nearly 3 hours long. At no point in the film was I ever bored, Linklater can make you more engaged with a game of charades than some directors can with the end of the world, however some more ruthless editing could have brought Boyhood in at just over 2 hours I’m sure. My other main problem is that because the film leaps in years, we miss some moments of development. There are clues sprinkled around for us to pick up on, but in particular the change in Ethan Hawke’s Mason Sr seem to happen over-night in cinematic terms, even though we know it was a long transformation in the story. These problems were probably inherent in the idea of the project, and the benefits of Boyhood’s structure outweigh the issues, however it is a film which you would not watch twice in a day for sure.
Boyhood is clearly the work of a director who has been in the game a while, it is filled with a sort of homespun philosophy on life from someone who understands we are all still figuring it out and we all have room to grow. Mason’s life is not idyllic or tragic, it is a life not far removed from many of our own experiences, for this reason the messages peppered throughout the film speak to the audience on a personal level. One moment which stands out for me is when Mason is given a much needed lesson in the virtues of hard work by a photography teacher, rarely in real life does anyone so neatly teach a lesson that needs to be learnt, and certainly not in the cinematic confines of a blackroom. However, it is a lesson that would stick with Mason for the rest of his life, and a scene which has played over in my head in the days since I saw the film. I am already making an appointment to view the film again when I am 30, I can only wonder what I will take away from Boyhood then.
WHO: Richard Linklater, because his hand is almost invisible, making this an exceptional film.
WHAT: The Black Album, the story behind which is in the trivia section of IMDB.
WHY: If this isn’t the kind of film you’d normally watch, you need to see it.
WHEN: Now. And again when you’re 30. And when you’re 50. It is a film which will grow with you.
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