Monday 26 September 2016

Boyhood (2014)

[**** stars / *****] 

2002: Six-year-old Mason and his elder sister Samantha are raised by their single mother Olivia in Texas. 

2005: Mason now lives in Houston with his family, stepfather, their two children.

2008: The real father, Mason Sr. talks to Mason and a 'now with boyfriend' Samantha about contraception. Yes, that kind of talk will take a long way coming to India.Meanwhile, Olivia escapes an abusive second marriage and files for divorce. 

2012: Mason has already experienced drugs, alcohol, love, and heartbreak. A budding photographer, he is at the crossroads of life as a teenager. 




Boyhood review 
Boyhood's crux is not the much-advertised byline '12 years in the making'. 

It is director Richard Linklater's ode to life's ordinariness, how life just quietly passes by, but for some upheavals, intermittent chaos and adventures while you are at it. A gentle nod to childhood, parenting and that strong tradition we call family.  

Unlike Linklater's Before Trilogy (where I loved that nothing overtly plot-altering is happening), after a point you want things to get moving here. 

Scenes like a drunken abusive father, a cowering wife, an alcoholic taking his children on a dangerous, infuriated car ride, add necessary zing to an otherwise linear tale.

But Linklater's making his signature moments here. 

Among steady conversations, free-flowing monologues, bad haircuts, first girlfriend and a touching cathartic mother moment, Boyhood shines in what it reveals in passing, and not always necessarily in dialogue. This is where it kept me riveted.  


The last bit of conversation and how it loops back to the entire film is an incredible editing moment, applause for editor Sandra Adair. 

If you end up loving Boyhood, don't miss Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995) and for dramatic contrast, the rock'n'roll infused, cute school comedy School of Rock (2003).    

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