Review of Boyhood (2014) by Meseamer — 26 Feb 2015

I watched boyhood and oh my... well, I don't know if I should share but the film makes you feel as though you SHOULD think it's a classic because you are watching these people age and develop, but in reality they definitely do age but develop very little.

It's as disjointed a film as you would expect from the way it was filmed over such a long period, it doesn't struggle to be coherent because there's absolutely no challenge in that respect for it to do so.

There's nothing artful about the way the film is put together, it's a sequence of moments, which makes sense if you think about the last scene, a scene which tries to make this profound link, like a series of moments with nothing really changing but it feels flat, and again maybe that is the point, that it should feel flat and banal because that's more realistic but the film also tries to be something else by having several linking scenes with sombre indie songs playing in the background, the songs are so tacked on and don't reflect the mood well at all.

Whether it's his character or just bad acting, Mason is underwhelming, and so is his sister through most of the film, funnily enough they both seem to act better as young kids, but as they grow the cracks start to show in the performances, I get they have been directed to act as naturally and realistically as possible but it comes across as just awkward bad acting in some scenes, which should have been cut or edited better, the editing was the worst thing about the film, far too many pointless cuts and lingering shots that do nothing, one sweeping shot is so bad it sticks out like a sore thumb.

The editing was poor in terms of the sequence of moments as well, it was a basic timeline, but it was put together with no flair. In my opinion the best thing about the film was Patricia Arquette and her character, she was a very realistic mother, and the nuance to her performance reminded me of my own mom, I thought her performance was the best in the film, Ethan Hawke was good as well, and he absolutely carries the scenes with the kids.

I don't think it should be viewed as groundbreaking just because ageing happens to the characters, it should be judged as just another film, I was ready to enjoy this film, and I found it relatively enjoyable, and it wasn't that the pacing was too slow, just that it felt monotonous, the film gets better, it has peaks and troughs.