Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Boyhood
2014
*****
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Libby Villari, Marco Perella, Jamie Howard, Andrew Villarreal, Brad Hawkins, Jenni Tooley

Richard Linklater's intimate epic tells the story of Mason Evans from the age of six to his first day in college. The director got the same cast and crew together annually and shot his film over a period of 12 years. This is an astonishing logistical achievement, but more importantly a brilliant creative device which captures the passage of time like no film before it. Linklater attempted something similar with the Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight trilogy, where each time jump was nine years. The free-flowing narrative follows one family and doesn't include any big shocks or dramatic twists. As Mason and his sister Sam see their mom repeatedly marry the wrong guy or their dad mature from an aimless slacker to a solid family man, life reveals itself to be a series of trials and errors. The characters are wonderfully drawn and the performances are warm. Ellar Coltrane is a natural in front of the camera and Patricia Arquette, who plays the mother, won a deserved Academy Award.