Boyhood (2014) [Movie Review]

Boyhood is one of the most ambitions films I have ever watched. Scratch that; I believe that Boyhood is, in fact, the most ambitious film ever made. Filming for Boyhood began in 2002 - 12 years ago - and chronicles the growth of the young Mason and Samantha as they grow from children to adults. What sets this film apart from any other film of the same nature is that the actors never change. The children from the start of the film are played by same people as the college-age adults by the end of the film. That alone makes this film worth the watch, all of the other wonderful things that happen along the way is just an added bonus.

And truly, everything along the way was wonderful. The films editing was one thing that stuck out. In most other films, any time there is a jump between days, months or years, there is more often than not a text overlay to inform the audience of exactly how long time skips forward. But this film doesn't do that. In fact, the only text overlay I can remember is the opening credits which stated the two production companies, followed by the title of the film. The viewer is left to infer what the current year is from the technology or what is being discussed. This felt like a nice change of pace and I was happy that the director, Richard Linklater, didn't feel the necessity to spell everything out.

One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the lack of a cliched story. After it was revealed that Mason's grades were poor, being raised by a single mother and occasionally an abusive man in the house, I thought for sure the film was going to go in that path. You know the one. But it didn't, it all felt real. Not that the other path isn't a realistic path.

Speaking of real. There was not a single moment in which this film seemed unrealistic. All of the characters felt like actual human characters. There was no exaggeration in the things they did and none of them were perfectly good or bad. There was, however, a perfect balance of the good and bad characteristics.

But Boyhood is a film that cannot be captured in words. It is an instant classic that is, in my personal opinion, a required viewing. Make the time to see this movie, you will not be dissapointed.

Rating: 95/100

IMDb Page
Wiki Page