Director Richard Linklater’s films, including “The School of Rock”, “Bernie”, “A Scanner Darkly” and the “Before” trilogy, have satisfied audiences with their attention to authentic human situations and emotional truths. His latest, “Boyhood”, is an ambitious project shot over 12 years (with a budget of $2.4 million, or just $200,000/year), with the same narrative and set of actors from start to finish. This technique allows us to literally watch the characters, specifically the title character Mason, grow-up on screen. Linklater deserves a tremendous amount of credit for being able to pull-off “Boyhood”. Planning-out and completing a project such as this is a monumental accomplishment. Unfortunately, this is a case of the filmmaking being stronger than the actual film. With more than a decade of time devoted to and invested in this story, sadly “Boyhood” doesn’t have much to say.
At just under three hours, Linklater freely takes his time. We are introduced to Mason (played by Ellar Coltrane) when he’s in First Grade. His sister Samantha (Linklater’s real-life daughter Lorelei), is a few years older. Their mother (“Medium” star Patricia Arquette) is divorced from husband Mason Sr. (Linklater favorite Ethan Hawke). The children love both of their parents, and struggle with splitting their time between the two. Over the next dozen years, we watch as Mason goes through a series of life changes: moving to different cities, new schools, new friends, changing interests and eventually romantic relationships of his own. He gets new step-parents and siblings, but his real mother and father stay in his life, as they deal with their own struggles and changes.
Linklater, smartly, doesn’t use on-screen words as story transitions from one year to the next. Instead, we’re made aware of the passing of time through Mason’s ever-changing height and hairstyles. The director also includes scenes involving the video-game loving Mason using the different, evolving devices of each year – from 20Q to the XBOX and PlayStation to the Wii and finally a modern cell phone with video chat capability. There’s a moment (filmed several years ago) with Mason and his dad talking about how there will never be another “Star Wars” movie. This is one of the funnier moments in the film and adds realism to the idea of the unpredictability of life.
Coltrane is very effective at all his stages and it’s impossible not to grow to care for Mason and wonder what’s to come, though too much time is spent on his high school years. Hawke is quite good as a father who simply wants what’s best for his kids, while Arquette’s performance ranges from subtly effective to over-the-top and forced. A few of her scenes, early on and one in particular towards the end of the film, come-off as choppy and not believable.
My main problem with “Boyhood” is that Linklater doesn’t provide anything new or groundbreaking to the experience of a young boy growing-up and going out on his own. Themes of a young person maturing while dealing with unbalanced families, relationship struggles, and facing the realities of life have all been tackled in movies again and again. “Boyhood” doesn’t add anything new or profound to the conversation. Because of this I was never able to become completely invested in the story. There’s a very scattered arc and not nearly enough opportunities for authentic drama or surprises. The few attempts at being profound are saved to the final twenty minutes or so, instead of sprinkled throughout, which also doesn’t work.
“Boyhood” is rated R for language, brief violence, adult references, and teen drinking/drug use. This movie could be called “12 Years A Boy”, and the technique (some might say “gimmick”) is executed perfectly. But, because of an underwhelming story without enough bite, this is a journey that, in the end, doesn’t go anywhere.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Boyhood” gets a C+.