‘Slice-of-life’
or ‘Coming-of-age’ were just some random words until BOYHOOD happens to you. This
‘Richard Linklater of BEFORE SUNRISE, BEFORE SUNSET & BEFORE MIDNIGHT fame’
movie is anything but the most evolved & detailed cinematic experiment with
human emotions portrayed ever on screen. It’s been done in such inventive and intelligent
manner that you hardly look at it as a fabricated fictional product of some
creative mind. In here, life happens like it does in real. Things are never
dramatic but smooth, slowly but surely moving and coherent.
When was
the last time you visited your old days through a big bulky family photo album
or home videos on VHS or Hi8? You get flashes of plenty moments rejoiced with family
all these years. That is something like a scattered version if putting them on
a timeline but with BOYHOOD, it is like being gifted to experience someone else’s
life in the wide span of 12 years and by the time you’re done with it, you look
back and find every piece of it having likeness of your life. Life is beautiful,
really!
As his
code of performance, Richard gives us a 12-year long journey of a regular American
family but doesn’t change its main cast and shoots the same cast for over 12
years in a row to give us an ample projection of falling in love and growing
older & wiser with each one in the cast. So, Mason- a 6 year old [Ellar
Coltrane] inquisitive son to a single mother and a visiting divorcee father [Director’s
favorite Ethan Hawke] becomes an 18-year old youngster flavoring the sweetness
of first love and dryness of real-life complications. His miserably
disconnected relationship with her much of a controlling sister has sure come a
long way for a quite mutual affiliation. The mother [played by Patricia
Arquette] now, shows off more wrinkles on her face and fatty ageing lines on
others. The father has added more grey shaded hair in his magnetic persona. And
in all these, there are moments of being in love with life in the most natural
way such as behavioral changes, physical transformations, emotional mood
swings, growing liabilities, glowing feelings of the first love, wisdom of
reality and historical timelines in synced with them.
Watch out
for the torment Mason goes through while losing his long hair streaks for the
first time. It has happened to us all. The sibling rivalry that slowly & casually
rolls into a more understanding temperament. Leaving behind a mother with teary
eyes when departing for higher education or enjoying the firsts of adulthood
with friends, BOYHOOD touches every inch of your life between 6-18 years. Of the
performances, seeing Coltrane ageing beautifully from a poor innocent introvert
kid to an inhibited but confident young man is an experience itself. Same goes
with Lorelai Linklater playing his sister though the plot doesn’t give her
equal space to focus more on Mason. Arguette wins accolades for her strong character
who never takes a back step in life despite quite a few bad choices made in
hurry. Hawke charms with his wit and positive vibes through his lovely
character of a responsibly active & concerned parent.
To sum
up, Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD is a cinematic experience worth every single
penny you spend on it, though I would not say the same for the length of the
film. 2 hour 45 minutes could make you restless but when it is all about
something never seen before, one should not be much bothered about that little
ignorable flaw! Go for it. [4/5].
No comments:
Post a Comment