BOYHOOD

I saw BOYHOOD! Along with being the single most conceptually complex movie ever made, it's possibly the most interesting and uninteresting movie that I've ever reviewed. I'll unpack that box in a minute but first let me give you the rundown of what it's about. The movie follows a young boy named Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, as he literally grows from a boy to a man and chronicles all the loves, losses, joys and disappointments of growing up in Texas along with his mother, father and sister played by Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and the director's own daughter, Lorelei Linklater.

The film is the brainchild of director Richard Linklater and literally took 12 years to make as it weaves through the early 2000s until present day. From a conceptual standpoint alone I should be giving this movie 10 stars. The style is consistent across the years, well shot and the actors grow up and grow old before your very eyes... that is except for Ethan Hawke who is apparently some sort of immortal daywalker vampire. Needless to say, this is a true achievement in film from a technical standpoint. From a story standpoint, it's a little different. The story in the film has this feeling like it was written on the fly, without any real direction as to where it was going or what it was building towards any kind of earth shattering event but here's the thing, there comes a point where the movie knows you're realizing that fact and it even addresses it but asks you to hold on just a little longer. By the end of the show, the message the film has plays a lot like real life, not every story is glamorous and dramatic, real life is what it is and a lot of times it's not super eventful but when you look back over everything, you truly saw a boy grow into a man and experience the kind of joy, disappointment, loss, and love that we all do and it was done in a real life kind of way.

Overall, I really liked this movie and despite the fact that a lot of the acting by the kids was less than stellar, and the plot seemed to meander a bit over it's nearly 3 hour run time, the end product was such an achievement that I really can't knock off any points for any mistakes in pacing because at the end of the day, I got where I needed to be and honestly It just couldn't have been done better! Plus, the movie was shot in Houston, Austin and San Marcos, three cities I call home. Taking all into consideration, I simply CAN'T give this movie any less than a perfect 5...out of 5.