Richard Linklater’s romantic ‘Before…’ trilogy chronicled a romance over the course of 18 years. But not even Linklater’s fans could have expected him to explore growth and time in such an incredible fashion as he does in Boyhood. Casting Ellar Coltrane when he was seven years old, Linklater filmed for 39 days over the space of 12 years, capturing the seemingly banal tiny moments that form a young man’s life.
Unwinding over a perfectly flowing three hours, Linklater’s portrayal of the arc between childhood and adulthood has little plot and no melodramatic propulsion, instead focusing on the moments and memories that form relationships and identities: looking at your first porn magazine, being forced to get your hair cut, seeing your mother crying on the floor and not understanding why. As Mason (Coltrane) grows through family changes, break-ups, hair styles and passions, the film is magnificent and its method inconceivably brave. Linklater had no idea how Coltrane would turn out, but this wise, sensitive soul with a downbeat dreaminess proves utterly engaging to watch.
Not that Linklater doesn’t play his part to perfection too. Subtly starting with low camera shots that rise as Mason grows, the director perfectly captures this subjective but maturing perspective, while technology and music act as the cultural signifiers of his vast timeline.
As Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke play Mason’s estranged parents, the evolving relationship between parent and child is alternately heart-warming and heart-rending. As Arquette declares “this is the worst day of my life” as Mason leaves for college, you believe her.
Though purportedly about one young man, Boyhood, is a film about parents, children, teenagers and anyone who has ever grown up. Anyone who spends their time just trying to figure it all out. Anyone whose ordinary moments have added up to one extraordinary thing: a life.