Review of Boyhood (2014) by Rose — 27 Jul 2014

There are some movies that are excellent and then there are some that are ground-breaking. Boyhood is in that rarefied air of the latter. It is important to define what Boyhood is as much as what it isn't. This is not your typical movie of cliff hangers and shocking revelations. This is not a movie of searing performances and of acting the part of some highly unusual character ala Rain Man or Raging Bull. This is clearly not a movie of escapism and triumph of good over evil.

This is the movie that Terrence Malik was trying to make when he made his artsy inscrutable Tree of Life. This is an easily accessible story of life in all of its reality without a single bit of artifice used to tell the story. This is also a movie trying to be shown and told through a boy;s eyes. Scenes that are shown and are memorable because that is what would register in the child's eyes at that time and place in their life. The authenticity documented by taking 12 years to film it and accept the changes in the world that would have to fit the storyline can not be replicated in a traditional movie. This gives it the gravitas of a true story and makes it all that much more believable.

The other revelation of this movie is that it should be on some level the story of your life. There has to be some empathy and connection to what you see on screen that is relatable to one's own experiences. This movie is more then a passive watching experience, this is a mirror into ourselves and what the passage of life means to us. The beauty of this movie is that it doesn't have to be the son who you relate to, even though he is the focus. You can be any of the immediate family or none at all and still connect in a visceral way to the characters.

Linklater didn't tell the story of just a boy, he told the story of us all and what can be more engrossing then watch a filmmaker take the time to take snippets of our lives and put it on screen in his own imitable style. We are all much more enriched by having this truly wonderful movie made.