Last night Richard Linklater‘s highly anticipated film Boyhood premiered at Sundance and as you can see from the picture to the right (via Total Film) the press line to get in was a long one, but it would seem the anticipation and the wait was worth it as positive reviews are just now starting to come in.
I don’t want to ruin any of the surprises for myself so I didn’t exactly read the reviews linked below, just simply skimmed them for a few general thoughts. Boyhood is already expected to be released in the May/June timeframe from IFC (yes, it means a Criterion release is likely later this year) so I think a little wait won’t hurt when it comes to exploring the surprises to be found in the 164-minute feature that took 12 years to create. Why ruin that with review spoilers?
For those that don’t know, the movie was filmed over short periods from 2002 to 2013 and at the center of it all is Mason (Ellar Coltrane), who with his sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), are taken on an emotional and transcendent journey through the years, from childhood to adulthood. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play the parents.
Here are some snippets from the reviews that have been published so far. I’ll add a few throughout the day as they are published.
Mike Ryan from Huffington Post:
“Boyhood” is one of the most remarkable movies that I have ever seen. This isn’t hyperbole. Richard Linklater started filming “Boyhood” in 2002, finally finishing in 2013. Over 12 years, we literally watch Mason (Ellar Coltrane) grow up before our eyes (Coltrane is currently 19) — not to mention Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette (who play Mason’s parents) who become, let’s say, more mature over the course of the film themselves.
After the screening I posed the question to a few people, “If ‘Boyhood’ had been entirely filmed in 2013, with different actors used for the children as they age, would you feel as positive about the film?” Everyone I asked agreed that the answer was “no.” This isn’t a slam on the film’s plot, it’s just that the plot about a brother and sister and their divorced parents needs the familiarity of the actors. We need to see these people age and mature for us to care about these characters.
Eric Kohn from Indiewire:
Twelve years ago, Richard Linklater started production on a movie following the development of a child from the age of seven through the end of his teenage years. If there was ever project that demanded to be informed by the history of its making, “Boyhood” is it. Epic in scope yet unassuming throughout, Linklater’s incredibly involving chronicle marks an unprecedented achievement in fictional storytelling — the closest point of comparison, Michael Apted’s “Up” documentaries, don’t represent the same singularity of vision. Shot over the course of 39 days spread across more than a decade, “Boyhood” is an entirely fluid work that puts the process of maturity under the microscope and analyzes its nuances with remarkable detail.
Guy Lodge from HitFix:
One wonders how much of this character study has been influenced by Linklater’s own shifting relationship with his young leading man, who can’t have been cast with any degree of certainty over who or what he would become. That’s a thrilling risk for a filmmaker to take, and Coltrane rewards his director’s gumption by blossoming into an actor of genuine charisma, blessed with lanky physical grace and drolly behind-the-beat delivery. As he enters adulthood, it’s not hard to see how Mason might fit into the director’s 1991 debut “Slacker,” even if that film, somewhat alarmingly, precedes his entire life: whether by accident or design, Linklater has stumbled upon a perfectly Linklater-esque figure for his children’s generation.
It’s compelling, too, to watch adult actors craft their characters on such a long-term basis: as in “Before Midnight” last year, the greying and fraying of Hawke’s hipster-dreamer persona seems part self-deprecating and part unconscious. Arquette, meanwhile, is tremendous, charting Olivia’s shift from overwhelmed single mom to sleek suburban bohemian to wry, hardened survivor — sliding back and forth between those poles as circumstances dictate — with unflagging good humor and ferocity.
Ty Cooper from Hey You Guys:
At one point during the screening, I remember thinking “Oh my god… they’ve made a movie about me, and they’ve put it up on the screen”. I connected with the main character, Mason (Ellar Salmon), in a big way, and because of this, I found myself hopelessly in love this film. I felt like I knew these characters, and I felt like I lived those stories. Boyhood truly is a film about the human experience, and this is something everybody can relate to. Will there be people who struggle with this film? Certainly. However, I would be extremely surprised if this doesn’t become standard curriculum for teacher and film professors worldwide. An instant classic.
