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Review: Linklater’s ‘Boyhood’ transcends its terrestrial limits

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Richard Linklater is a multifaceted Hollywood talent. While he’s probably best known for writing, directing, and producing the 1993 stoner classic Dazed and Confused, he’s also been the driving force behind a number of studio comedies and deeply independent, experimental endeavors throughout his nearly three-decade career. His characters are often loners and social outcasts that question authority and the scope of his existential themes tend to transcend their terrestrial limits — an honorable feat for a man whose work remains so grounded. Boyhood, Linklater’s latest effort, feels like a meticulously planned and masterfully executed culmination of these ideas and motifs.

Filmed in increments since 2002, Boyhood follows Mason, Jr. (Ellar Coltrane in his first film role) from first grade to college. He and his older sister, Samantha (Linklater’s real-life daughter, Lorelei), are products of separated parents, raised mainly by their mother, Olivia (Patricia Arquette). They are subject to the occasional visit from their nomadic father, Mason, Sr. (Ethan Hawke). Short vignettes are strung together to form a surprisingly cohesive narrative that successfully examines the boy’s efforts to cope and generally tackle the obstacles imposed by his dysfunctional family life over the years. The moments are genuine, charming, and, most importantly, real — the product of Linklater growing and adapting to his work for the length of the project.

The film tastefully deals with the subjects of sex, drugs, and alcohol as the children grow and their mother falls into a series of unhealthy relationships. Hawke’s character brings a welcomed, albeit juvenile, outside perspective that often comforts the kids and charms the audience throughout the length of the picture. He is completely relatable, and his humorous allegories and overall willingness to accept his faults make him one of the film’s most redeeming characters. For those born in the 90s and early aughts, nostalgia runs rampant in Boyhood. The film is inundated with cultural references, from Star Wars to Harry Potter. Coldplay’s “Yellow” opens the film, as Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up The Sun” soundtracks an early childhood move to Houston. The tactic transports the viewer to a particular place and time, making it hard not to leave the theater feeling a deep, personal connection to the film.

Though filmed annually, two weeks at a time, for twelve years, Boyhood never feels disconnected. In fact, it’s downright astonishing to see Mason and his sister grow up right before your eyes — a visual compliment to one of the film’s grandest themes. Meanwhile, Linklater’s style is as naturalistic as ever, lending a certain level of tangibility to the events as they unfold on screen.

Towards the end of the film, a singular shot depicts Mason, on the highway in his pickup truck, embarking for his first day of college. A stretch of open road lies before him as he silently reflects on an earlier conversation with his mother. The shot directly echoes the final moments of Dazed and Confused, where a group of unassuming high school seniors set out to an Aerosmith concert after a life-changing final day of school. With Boyhood, Linklater seems to have come full circle, creating a career-spanning masterpiece in the form of a visual time capsule that’s sure to affect future audiences for generations.

Review by Shea Garner. Binge-watch an entire filmography with him on Twitter @sheaDUCK.



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