Movie Review: Boyhood

4 stars out of 5

I haven’t seen a movie with Ethan Hawke in it since 1989. He and I have a complicated history. But when I heard all the amazing buzz about the movie Boyhood, I figured the quarter-century boycott would finally come to an end. I am glad it did. This is an excellent, fascinating film. Best movie ever? Eh, let’s not go crazy, but… pretty darn good.

It is certainly one of the most intriguing films of all time. We’ve seen actors grow up on television and we’ve seen real people grow up in the movies (the Up documentary series). But I don’t recall seeing it all at once. Richard Linklater sets out to cover an awful lot of ground here (see title of film, plus the parallel tale of parenting) and I’d say he succeeds on all fronts. We get sibling issues, discipline, peer pressure, moving, divorce, stirrings of sexual desire, bullying, alcoholism, domestic abuse, first loves, friendships, heartbreak, awkward teen years, the evolution of Apple products, the post-9/11 world, summer jobs, college, thoughts of the future, giving up your dreams, and everything in-between. Linklater captures it with such realism, it’s very impressive (especially in the earlier years, when—maybe, just maybe—Linklater was a slightly better filmmaker. A little more show, a little less tell).

Big kudos to Ellar Coltrane who, oh, just gave up his entire childhood for this movie—and carries things admirably. He goes from wide-eyed cute kid to pimply confused teen to maybe-sort-of-beginning-to-figure-things-out young man. (Spoiler alert: You never do.) And weirdly, he starts to look like Ethan. You’ll relate to some or all of this kid’s life, for sure.

Patricia Arquette gives a heroic performance as the mom, struggling to provide for her kids and obtain a fulfilling career yet continually getting tripped up by unhealthy relationships. And yet despite all the difficulties, she’s always strong, and you never think for a second that she doesn’t completely care for her children. It’s a subtle, layered portrayal, bringing to mind Jennifer Jason Leigh in the somewhat under-appreciated Spectacular Now. And one of Arquette’s scenes elicited my biggest emotional reaction.

Lorelei Linklater (uh, nepotism much?) plays the daughter, growing up right beside Ellar. She does the big-sister thing to a T (though in the later years she seems to lose any authority over her brother, maybe over-relying on a la-di-da blank smile).

And then there’s my man Ethan. You see, it’s crazy, because I knew HIM as a 12 year old and and and…. Anyway, he’s real good as the absent, irresponsible-but-still-trying dad. Hawke doesn’t allow the character to become a cliché, as we learn that… bum-bum-buuuuuum… parents can grow up too.

And a tip of the cap to Linklater for also casting Vince Howard’s former-junkie mom from Friday Night Lights in a very small role. Hey, this is set in Texas.

Now, a lot of people are saying this is the bestest thing ever ever ever and I’m going to quietly, respectfully disagree. It did feel overly long (I know, I know, you dragged a cast and crew around for 12 years, you can’t cut it too much). And, as a series of interconnected short stories, it of course lacks some concision in the dramatic-arc department. For me, personally, the younger years were more impactful than the whoa-man teen philosophizing toward the end.

But still: very, very impressive. And I recently recorded Reality Bites on my DVR, so I’ve got that to look forward to.

The author, far left, with 12-year-old Ethan to his immediate right, 1983.