Film Review – Boyhood

Reality bites – Is Boyhood a homage to Fly-on-the-wall ‘Dramality’ for the hipster generation?

Richard Linklater deserves high praise for his latest labour of love, the movie ‘Boyhood. Filmed over a lengthy twelve year period, both the director and the cast have produced a work of outstanding originality.

A twelve year labour of love – hats off to the the cast, who have shown immense loyalty to this project.

The story itself, on the outside, is a simple one. The director films Masonas he is growing up, but Richard Linklater has managed to make ‘Boyhood’ so much more. The young star’s journey (played by Ellar Coltrane) from an eight year old boy to an eighteen year old young man may be the hook the film hangs on but it’s the mundane snapshots of his life that gives the film its depth and stirs the emotion.

The audacity of a film of this nature speaks volumes of the commitment of all those involved. The ‘grown ups’ Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette both give outstanding supporting performances. They too signed on to the director’s vision, turning up religiously every year to film the next instalment. Whilst the young Coltrane’s growth between scenes is an obvious talking point. Both Arquette’s and Hawke’s drift into middle age, is both touching and poignant.

The choice not to hide behind make up and cinematic tricks only added to the authenticity of the story – meaning that what you saw was the real thing; warts and all.

The director claimed a lot of the script was improvised, with the story developing, to reflect ‘the moment’, and so the characters experienced the storyline as if in real time.

It was this degree of recklessness, allowing the ups and downs of their lives to be shown but never explained, which gave the film its edge.

There was, of course, a few staged plot lines. But for the majority of the film you entered a scene, and that place in the character’s lives became the story.

It could be said that this was a movie maker’s take on reality TV or ‘dramality’ – a TOWIE for the hipster generation. The plot was sketchy, the lines were never forced and the delivery was always presented in a laid back matter-of-fact sort of way.

Without thinking, this is a nod to the hipster generation. Swap the trendy, quirky ‘norm core’ swagger of Brooklyn and drop it in rural Texas and you get a sense of its styling.

Whilst nobody spoke to camera, it was absolutely a fly-on-the-wall drama. Like all good reality shows you got the feeling that once the young actors forgot the cameras were there, they allowed the film to just reflect the drift of their lives. They became comfortable not speaking and a look Could deliver as much emotion as any word or sentence.

Whether through luck or talent, casting Director Linklater has found a real star in his young lead.

Ellar Coltrane managed to maintain the personality of his character consistently throughout the twelve years of filming. His calm, delicate performance has been hailed for its maturity; the only real question over his acting ability would be: was he acting or, like the best reality shows, were we just seeing him play himself?

Future roles will tell us if he has a career in the business. But whatever happens, the string of awards that he will surely pick up will be a tribute to his efforts.

As a watcher, you feel the same sense of sadness that haunts the film: watching the boy grow older by years would strike a note with many and perhaps a tear or two for lost innocence.

Comparing this film to a reality TV show could be seen by some as a massive slight on a quality film, yet the premise is the same and sometimes the study of the banality of life can be as as rewarding as Shakespeare.