MOVIE REVIEW: 'BOYHOOD'
**** (4 Stars out of four) 9.0 of 10 IBDM
'BOYHOOD' Movie Trailer, Movie Review, Cheap Tickets, Discount Theaters
Leave it to wisened veteran producers
Richard Linkletter (son of Art Linkletter) and actor Donald Sutherland to come up with perhaps the blockbuster movie of the summer if not year - certainly the top 'message' movie. With little fanfare to date but probably soon to come,
'Boyhood' stars newcomer
Ellar Coltrane as the son, Mason and
Patricia Arquette as his mother; we watch as both evolve figuratively and literally over a 12 year period in their lives. 'Mason,' never quite fits in with the other kids; as the introspective kid he questions others, 'where's the magic' as scripted early in life for most kids ; it will take his mother much longer to also realize how repeated mistakes (three marriages and several moves) have done nothing to improve her disposition in life. Only Mason's first (of the three) fathers, played by
Ethan Hawke, also seems to sees the 'light' - early on- only in a different way than Arquette, but becomes appreciated more by her after he grows and she evolves.
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Mason, 'a good kid,' seems to miss out - or not care- about the normal boyhood rites of passage and rather escape the typical family trappings of being told what to do and how he should live his life. He doesn't develop strong relationships , perhaps for fear of this 'bondage' and gradually evolves as the individual, who appreciates the little things and 'moments' in life rather than those things mapped out for us early in life (i.e. that we're told we're supposed to appreciate such as certain jobs, relatives, family ceremonies and rituals, etc.)
'Boyhood' is not your typical coming of age movie - perhaps it's
anti-coming of age. The movie runs a rull two hours and forty-five minutes to cover the expansive portion of said characters' lives. It's definitely a thought-provoking movie that should be seen especially by those at cross-roads in their lives or young folks before they make the usual mistakes of growing up.
Though much of the audience at our showing spent the movie laughing, we saw little of comedic valuein the film; perhaps the reaction by those was nervous laughter or , perhaps, they didn't get the message, that was repeatedly drilled into our heads after seeing Arquette marry and escape combative husband after husband or seeing Mason continue to question the meaning of it all - or perhaps some saw too much of the movie in their own lives.
It's hard to give a star grade to this kind of movie though if pinned down we'd have to give it 4 stars (****) ; all we know it kept our attention the full nearly three hours;we didn't see anyone walk out, either. Standouts in the movie are the young Sutherland, Hawke and Arquette
We're told that the film was,amazingly, filmed over a 12 year period, mostly during the 2000s and following the actual development of the characters. All the following elements are a part of this long and rather complex movie:
family dinner ,road trip , vodka, liquor, awkward situation, confederate flag,
liberal, obama election,obama campaign,reference to sarah palin, 2000s,,year 2002, professor,
thanksgiving dinner,thanksgiving flirting, elementary school,middle school, photograph,
campfire ,shouting,abuse, abusive relationship,woman crying, crying woman,
check ,liquor store,gay slur ,swimming hole,swimming in underwear, male underwear,
song singing,singer ,guitarist,guitar ,baby,van ,boxer shorts,
swimming ,baseball,embarrassment ,humiliation,pot smoking, marijuana,
stepsister, stepsister relationship, abusive father,abusive stepfather, abusive husband,
eating ,food,liar ,lie,telephone call, telephone,
computer ,preacher,beer ,bicyclefootball darkroom
classroom ,class,teacher, playing a video game,
video game ,remarriage,marriage, stepbrother ,stepbrother relationship,
stepbrother stepsister relationship, camera,high school ,school,
stepgrandmother,stepgrandson relationship target practice, rifle ,church,
drunkenness, drinking,drink ,bible,religion,teenage sex,
sex austin texas,houston texas ,teenage girl,
girl ,boy,divorce ,step grandfather ,step grandson ,relationship,
shot in sequence photography,bowling,little boy,
teenage boy ,cigarette smoking,drunk driving ,marital trouble,
roommate ,dorm room,coming of age ,urination,
camping trip,dishwasher,
teacher student relationship ,photographer,
school bully, moving out,
bare chested male ,f word
family relationships underage drinking,
child with a gun ,grandmother ,grandson relationship
mother daughter relationship ,texas,
boyfriend girlfriend relationship, single mother,
alcoholic husband ex husband ex wife relationship,
husband wife relationship,brother sister relationship,
mother son relationship, father son relationship,
reference to ringo starr, reference to george harrison,
reference to paul mccartney, reference to john lennon,
reference to the beatles ,reference to john mccain,
reference to joe biden, reference to john kerry,
reference to george w. bush, reference to barack obama,
reference to bob dylan, singing ,in a tent,
singing in a car, written by director
Waterworld California (Concord, CA)
Gsd
