Rating: 3/5
Criterion Challenge 2023 | 50/52 | 2010s
Boyhood is a series of moments in the life of Mason Evans Jr. (Ellar Coltrane). He lives with his mom, Olivia (Patricia Arquette), and his sister, Samantha (Lorelei Linklater). He and Samantha sometimes spend time with their dad, Mason (Ethan Hawke), who spends much of the movie bouncing around.
The film is a technical marvel — an inspiring tale of independent cinema finding the freedom to make an experimental approach to a family movie.
This movie reached legendary status the second it came out. Its shimmer has faded over the years.
Time passes abruptly and bluntly. A song queue or a haircut change indicates passing time, which works for the thematic thread of the film.
Throughout the movie, we get the La Croix of a scene. The essence of an idea plays out, but we dip out before it gets any deeper — except for the ending, which Linklater wrote at the start of filming. We then ponder the meaning, the fleeting nature, and how life often happens to us rather than us controlling it.
It would have been impossible to make a good movie, let alone a great one, within this time frame. The script had to be flexible because of the unknown duration and upcoming trends. Antoine Doinel is probably the closest fictional character we have to Mason to revisit at various stages in life, and this is an exponential leap in technicalities.
This movie is pretty good. It’s neither a disaster nor a masterpiece. The biggest mistake the filmmakers made was betting on Ellar Coltrane. He isn’t a standout actor, so, as he ages, he becomes more boring to watch on-screen. They wanted Mason to have Ethan Hawke’s “ramble about anything” charm, but it doesn’t work — every impassioned speech feels rehearsed.
He’s not the whole movie, though.
Patricia Arquette gets everything right from minute one. We watch her softness for her children grow hard-edged as life and love take more of her time and energy. We still see glimpses of younger her when she talks with Ethan Hawke, which is rare, so it’s a sharp and subtle acting choice.
Ethan Hawke is Ethan Hawke in a Linklater movie — is he some version of himself, or is this what Linklater brings out of him? They take his character down a reformation path. We watch all the passion die and the bitterness settles in.
I wish the movie focused on Lorelei Linklater. She has charisma from moment one. She stands out even when she’s older. They must have directed her to tone it down so she didn’t overpower Mason.
My feelings about the movie might have changed if I was closer to Mason’s age. Still, for all the similarities our lives shared, he doesn’t feel like a person.
It’s a great project idea and a fine movie. Get high and let it play in the background.
Stray Thoughts
- “Yellow” by Coldplay, immediately followed by “Hate to Say I Told You So” by the Hives, immediately followed by “Anthem Part II” by blink-182. Imagine if they kept that energy the entire movie?
- The music is classic rock when they hang out with their dad.
- Ethan Hawke wearing cowboy boots and putting them on the couch is psychopathic behavior.
- Mason plays Oregon Trail II on the iMac with the translucent teal casing. So jealous.
- Alcoholic step-dads with anger problems? Me too, kid.
- He went to a nice school — those Macs in his photo lab were what we had in college.
- Sheena looks like Patricia Arquette. I wonder how intentional that is.