Saturday, July 19, 2014

Boyhood Review

A Life of Thoughtfulness

I'm one of those guys who just thinks. A lot. Like, I can't turn off my brain. That's probably what's made me so cautious as a person; I can't help but think of every possible scenario that can come from any given scenario. As one might expect, my thoughts can occasionally drift to the heavy stuff, like the point of existence. Now, to go with my ability to do such deep thinking, is my photographic memory. I'm a visual kind of dude, and I can remember the smell, surroundings, feel of almost every single moment in my life.
I have a feeling Richard Linklater is just like me, because Boyhood manages to capture every detail of the time period it takes place in (the early part of the 21st Century), and allows the story to contemplate some truly remarkable ideas. And he does it all through the cinematic story of a boy, growing up in an era that captures the two most prevalent feelings in any human being: hope and uncertainty. Really, for storytelling purposes, there's no better place to set this movie. Even better is the fact that me and Mason, the protagonist played by Ellar Coltrane, line up perfectly in terms of age. I've been through the years he has at the exact same age, potentially heightening an emotional connection that wouldn't have been possible without a great movie to hinge it on. 

But oh my God, do they have a great movie, which is a huge understatement. Few films are this capable of managing to be so smart, so complex, so entertaining and actually say something unique about us collectively as the human race (the only other films I can think of that stand out to me on this level are Her and Toy Story 3) From the very start of the film, we can see Mason as a unique child in the world of film. He's not precocious, and he doesn't randomly talk like an adult solely to garner quick laughs. He's a kid who screws up, but is just trying to get through a life that's been positively confounding for him. 

Like Mason, I've been through the divorce thing, though I can only imagine how it must have been for a kid that young. It's not fun, no matter what age you are, but seeing him cling to the hope his parents (spectacularly played by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) might get back together is heartbreaking. He's tossed into a situation way above what he should actually deal with, but it's only the start of the trails and errors he'll face. Unknown actor Ellar Coltrane handles each of those trials in perfect fashion, especially whenever he endures a particularly emotional scenario, like his graduation and thinking about his future. 

Every scene is littered with evidence of this being from the early part of the 21st Century, and it just makes me drop my jaw at how much they get right. Wii, XBOX, High School Musical, Tropic Thunder are casually dropped not as moments of gratuitous product-placement, but ways to enhance the realism in this world. It works out great, and one particularly humorous moment is a creepily prophetic conversation about Star Wars movies in 2008. It all just adds to this epic heroes journey of sorts for Mason who must undertake the most terrifying quest of them all; growing up.

When we're kids, we like to think the world works like clockwork. There can't be mistakes, mommy and daddy can handle anything. Mason and myself were young 'uns when the World Trade Center was attacked, which was a universal sign to all that the world indeed has aspects so terrifying they can truly leave one speechless. Mason knows of terrifying reality all too well, not just from horrific events like 9/11 but from some aspects of his home life as well. I adore how you can see how tragedies in his youth clearly can shape him as he grows up.

Oh man, the passage of time in this movie is simply awe-inspiring to watch. It seems normal at first, but then his voice changes. He pretty much still looks the same, but no, that voice. Could it be the same person? This phenomenon that stands out as so surprising in this film is just a normal everyday occurrence in this movie. So many big budget blockbusters have come out this summer, and while many were good, several of the more expensive ones contain so much visual extravagance they forgot to account for a good story. The sight of an extremely well-developed character like Mason go through something as simple as a deepening voice has a thousand times more resonance than any of the $250 million effects found in the likes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, needless to say.

Richard Linklater, in case it wasn't obvious before, does an incredible job directing this one. I love how on edge he got me in two particular scenes (set in an abandoned house and a drive up to a college campus), yet he just uses that tension to demonstrate how attached one is to the cast at this point instead of going for some cheap scare or melodramatic plot point. His scripting and directing here are works of tremendous accomplishment, and I'd also like to give bonus points for the music in here. Just like the placement of things like 9/11 and the midnight book opening of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, music from this very recent time period is scattered throughout the picture in ways that manage to make an impression while not distracting from the scenes they're playing against. 

We're told throughout life things like graduation, getting a car and growing up will make things better. But they don't. I'm still the Doug Laman I was before I walked onto that stage to grab my diploma. I've always thought of things like that the most, and I was so, so ecstatic that Boyhood managed to put those thoughts into a movie of such unbelievable quality. Boyhood doesn't try to shove some schmaltzy ending on us, and it never tries to do the same to other major situations in the movie. Those kind of neat and perfect conclusions don't happen in reality, and Boyhood, which may be the perfect cinematic representation of human existence, realizes this. Oh God, does it realize it.

But y'know what's nice? It doesn't end on a downer. On the contrary, the film is one of the more upbeat movies of any kind you'll ever. Because it assures us that all that awkwardness we experience isn't unusual. Oddly similar to Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts in this regard, by showing us the life of a boy, a boy who has traits we can all recognize in ourselves, it shows how the hardships of life can make us better people. There are no perfect answers in Boyhood, but would you want those in this imperfect life? Even so, I'll keep contemplating life and all of its questions and  intricacies for the rest of my days, because that's just how my Asperger coated brain functions. Another thing I'll feel until the end of my days? Gratitude that a movie like Boyhood exists, a film that touched me on so many levels, emotionally, cinematically. 

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