Boyhood Spoiler-Free Review

I’ve been mulling this one over for a while now; not 12 years, but quite a while. Boyhood tells the story of a young man, Mason from age 5 to age 18. Sounds simple right? Not quite! Richard Linklater used the same actors all the way through, shooting the film over 12 years.

Yes, he did that. How insane is that? I mean getting your cast and (most of) your crew to stick around for 12 years, filming about 1 week per year; that is an absolutely amazing achievement.

But… and this is a BIG but, I don’t think there’s anything else that’s quite as substantial about this film as that.

It’s nominated for 6 Oscars, and has swept up tons of awards on the road to 22 February 2015 (Oscars Night), but I’m still trying to find out why. There were some decent performances, and many of the actors have said in interviews that a lot of the script was inspired by what was happening in real life. I must admit that Boyhood will take you on a bit of a journey that you can relate to, because it’s a human journey that a family experiences over 12 years.

Linklater has applied a very unique format to film making to achieve a level of realism that can basically not be imitated in any other way. This makes it a clear, undisputed masterpiece.

However, I’m convinced that if it takes Best Director and/or Best Picture on 22 February at the Oscars, it will be solely because of the fact that it was shot over 12 years; and that may just be okay.

Rating: 7/10

See it/ Don’t see it: Yeah you should, but it’s a long-ass movie, so see it when you’re wide awake and in the mood for couching it out.

About the Author: Stephen is a boy, standing in front of a bunch of readers, asking them to read his blog; and to follow him on Twitter @thesnagel