By: Bridey Heing Category: FILM Date: 25.Jul.2014

Ellard Coltrane grows up before our eyes in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood (IFC Productions).

 

Time has served as a primary character in past films by Richard Linklater, but in none so overtly as in Boyhood. For this groundbreaking film, now in theatres, Linklater worked with the same cast over 12 years to explore adolescence and growing up. Unlike in his iconic Before films, which also starred Boyhood’s Ethan Hawke and allowed ten years to lapse between each film for both the audience and the storyline, Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater age and transition suddenly before our eyes.

The impact is at once jarring and all too familiar. In many ways, the rapid changes are reminiscent of how it feels to look back on childhood. One may not remember the exact moment of transition from child to teen to adult, but snippets and fragments capture the overall feeling of each distinct phase. Through the snapshot style of the film, giving glimpses into the lives of Mason (Coltrane) and his family, the audience is reminded of how rapid the changes of growing up can be, with the once childlike Mason aging to young adulthood within two and a half hours on screen.

In the past, Linklater’s films have been constrained by time. In the Before series, this meant deeply exploring the way people grow and relationships change over time. Even in his cult classic Dazed and Confused, much of the emotion is wrapped up in the film’s taking place during the last day of the school year. But in Boyhood time is left to progress unconstrained to whirlwind as we all think it does in hindsight. As a result, the film feels more real in some ways and nostalgic in others.

Much like the Before films, Boyhood isn’t heavy on drama or action. The film relies on human emotion to keep the viewer engaged, be it the relatable pain of moving to a new city or the awkwardness of being a teenager. This slow, intimate film is one to be savored during and after viewing, not devoured in one sitting.

 

Boyhood is in theatres now.