'BOYHOOD' which I saw last night is Richard Linklater's twelve year opus to bring to us the evolving story of a fractured family growing up in Texas, and with a focus in particular on the centrepiece of that family, the young son who we meet aged six as he moves from 'Boyhood' to manhood over the next twelve years. This is truly a remarkable story that will resonate with you as you sit glued to every frame watching time pass by before your very eyes, in a way that we have not seen before on the big or small screen, and over such a prolonged period of film making time.
The film opens with six year old Mason (a breakout performance by Ellar Coltrane) doing the thing that all six-year olds do - lounging around, not paying attention at school, hanging out with mates, and day dreaming with not a care in the world. He has loving, albeit separated, parents and a nagging older sister and they live together in the former family home. It is young Mason who we will follow for the next twelve years as he experiences growing up and all the pain; torture; torment; angst; sadness and joy; love and loss; sex, drugs and alcohol; music and movies; the acne and long hair; social media and historical landmarks that pepper our lives every day . . . but seen through the eyes of a growing boy.
We follow him through the trials and tribulations of his family life as a string of successive 'father figures' come and go; as he struggles through school to pay attention and be engaged; through his introduction to alcohol, girls, sex and drugs; the first time he shoots a shotgun; his emerging keen interest in photography and his eventual move away from home to attend College.
The young Ellar Coltrane gives a truly nuanced performance - particularly given that at aged five he had to commit to Director Richard Linklater for twelve years and go the distance from 2001 to 2013 on film. So much could have gone wrong with this in hindsight, but Coltrane inhibits his character of Mason with such conviction and realism, never over dramatising, and keeping him grounded in the moment and his surroundings throughout the duration of the film, and therefore every year when the cast & crew came together to film another chapter in the unfolding lives of the principle players. Undoubtedly a star in the making if Coltrane chooses a career in Hollywood!
Patricia Arquette plays Mom, Olivia, to Mason and her performance too (as with all four of the principle cast) is first class. Starting out as a struggling single parent recently separated and juggling two demanding kids, work at a local school and dreams of making more of her life, she is the rock in the family relationship and the glue that binds it all together. Over the years we see her improve her position by following her dream and becoming a teacher of psychology ultimately, but along the way she marries, divorces, marries again and divorces again and each time you would question her decisions as those relationships implode and her two kids growing up are at the epicentre of it all. On the fringes sits part-time weekend Dad who does the right thing by the children and never interferes with his ex-wife's personal life, but you know is there to help when the brown stuff hits the fan, and by the end of the film you are thinking why didn't Mom just hang in there with Dad?
And so to Dad, Mason Snr., also played with great aplomb by Ethan Hawke who at the outset has darted off to Alaska to shake off his failed marriage, rediscover himself and perhaps grow up a little too. He is a committed father and never misses a beat when it's weekend access time to spend quality time with his growing boy and girl. It's a joy to watch their interaction as they reconnect with each other, share words of wisdom, and seek out adventures to share - a night at the bowling alley, watching a live baseball game or a camping weekend. Hawke is convincing in an understated way, growing in his fatherhood role as his children grow, accepting responsibility and providing fatherly advice along the way - to his 15 years old daughter about contraception, to his son about girls, his love of The Beatles music, his political stance, or his thoughts on further
'Star Wars' instalments (interesting in itself given that he discusses further episodes with Mason Jnr. around a camp fire long before the announcement in 2013 that Disney had bought the rights and were embarking on Episodes VII, VIII and IX). Mason Snr. is a would be musician, young at heart but accepting that time is marching on and so settles down eventually, marries, has another child and so too finally grows up with all the responsibilities and maturity that comes with middle age - a great restrained subtle performance by Hawke, showcasing once again his huge talent.
The final piece in the family jigsaw is elder sister Samantha (played by Richard Linklater's own daughter Lorelei) who also grows up before our eyes too but is not centre stage like Mason. As an emerging teenage girl we witness the awkwardness, the attitude, the angst, the self consciousness, the braces, dyed hair, fashion sense as she becomes a young woman and eventually moves away to College.
Written and Directed by Richard Linklater, he has delivered a unique film charting four lives over twelve years as two children and two adults grow up, mature, evolve and take increasing responsibility for their lives and those around them. Coming together for a couple of weeks every year for twelve years not only do we see the growth in these people but we also see the touchstones over that time that have impacted our own lives - the Bush administration; 9/11; war in Iraq; the advent of X-Box, Wii, the iPod, the Smartphone; Harry Potter, Star Wars, and the Twilight Saga; the Obama election campaign; the emergence of social media; all underscored by a great soundtrack to the last twelve years.
Running for 165 minutes it is a long film, but your patience will be rewarded by this achievement in movie making - a heart warming uplifting film that will resonate with anyone who has ever grown up, or has young people around them that are; a fly-on-the-wall take on a fictionalised story, and first rate award worthy performances from Coltrane, Arquette and Hawke especially that make this one of the must watch films of 2014.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
