Review of Boyhood (2014) by Nikolayg — 25 Jan 2015

In brief.

Want to see a great film about boyhood? See This Boy's Life.

Want to see Ethan Hawke's best? See Predestination.

Want to save 3 hours? Skip Boyhood.

I loved Before Sunset, Sunrise, and Midnight. But Boyhood is not good.

DOIn brief.

Want to see a great film about boyhood? See This Boy's Life.

Want to see Ethan Hawke's best? See Predestination.

Want to save 3 hours? Skip Boyhood.

I loved Before Sunset, Sunrise, and Midnight. But Boyhood is not good.

DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE.

Boyhood gets attention for the gimmick of being filmed sporadically over 12 years, so you get to see the kids in the movie grow up. Big whoop. Not an ounce of Hollywood gloss here. The movie goes for realism in the extreme. Homes are dirty, kind of crappy and depressing. It also passes over obvious places other movies would go; it skips cliches. No the step dad does not try to sexually abuse his step daughter. Which was a breath of fresh air. But it also crosses a line of being too realistic in terms of having no real plot. For awhile there IS kind of a plot as the mother deals with a difficult domestic drama. But after that the film sprawls. Example. The dad (minor spoiler, nothing big; probably you'll read about it in any review) seems not entirely to have reached closure with his ex. Maybe is considering getting back with her? But suddenly the movie cuts; it's years later; the dad is with another woman and has had a baby with her. I don't know about you, but between those cuts there might have been some good drama, but it's just skipped. Despite the title, the film dwells on every family member, so it's not like Ethan Hawke is a minor character. Yet they pass over a giant life event.

Minor spoiler is now over.

Yes stories should flow from character, but there should still be a story. Character reveals itself through the crucible of a crisis. Aside from the drama early on with the mom's domestic issue, there is no crisis here, and no story. When Hitchcock was asked what he thought of slice-of-life stories, he said he preferred to give people a slice of cake. I left this movie hungry for that cake. And besides, so-called slice-of-life stories, the good ones, do have a crisis. It's just that it's subtle. We didn't get that here.

There is no depth of the boy's life plumbed here. Just sketchy skit-like scenes semi-related.

Another point. Aside from Ethan Hawke, no one in this movie seems to have a positive attitude about anything ever. It's one thing not to be Disney, but this movie mistakes chronic maudlin negativity for drama. A story requires conflict. But much of the activity in this film doesn't rise to the level of actual conflict. Instead it's just a manifestation of some kind of low grade depression that never quits and slowly grinds down the teeth on the gears of your spirit.

Even though the movie is too realistic, in other ways it is too unrealistic. There is oddly stilted fake sounding dialog in the first 20 minutes or so. Also, the son (the "boy" of the title) encounters adult men who act exactly the same toward him all the time, step dad, teacher, boss, all of them criticize him in exactly the same way, and that's all they do. You could switch out the dialog for all these guys. They are all the same. Except Ethan Hawke. Another unrealistic thing. When the boy finally lands a girlfriend, she just happens to be one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen in a movie. This pimply pug nosed boy, without athleticism, brilliance, money, or particular promise, gets a girlfriend who probably would have thought herself too good for a young George Clooney. It's ridiculous. And they were going for extreme realism?

In my own life growing up I encountered some real weird sh!t. So did friends. They say 'sh!t happens' for a reason. But if this is supposed to be this kid's life, either they skipped over that type of dramatic stuff or he had one heck of a mundane childhood! Also, these people seem to have no center. If they have values or principles or beliefs, that's skipped over too. There is some banter that might try to be passing for philosophy but it amounts to nothing of substance. Yes as an adult paying bills and just trying to survive, you don't go around espousing basic values every day of your life, but these people seem so empty inside, as if they are animals that just happen to be able to speak. There's something off-putting about them from my perspective. They are not like people I have ever known.

Ethan Hawke does a good job acting in Boyhood, but why did he agree to do it? Predestination, his other new movie, is sci-fi, but it's also a study of character as revealed and developed through a protagonist's response to a crisis. It is stellar, brilliant, the best of the best. I am chalking it up on my list of the very best films (of any genre) that I have seen. It will be right beside Before Sunset on my BLU Ray shelf. Predestination raised Ethan Hawke in my estimation, and even Boyhood, which I saw a short time later, cannot bring him down entirely. So let me divert you dear reader. See Predestination.