At a time when TV series are incredibly popular, stretching sometimes over years a plot that, if properly and honestly narrated, would hardly last the canonical 90 minutes of a feature film, it is only refreshing, and a source of hope in the power and future of filmmaking, that a visionary and independent project such as Boyhood found a producer and the appreciation it deserves, with various awards collected across the world, at the Academy Awards, BAFTA, Berlin, Golden Globes amongst others.
Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind, release 33 years after his death, officially holds the record for the longest movie production time in history at 48 years, but the last Welles' credited film, and few others that took years to finish, differ substantially from Boyhood which, since inception, was thought to be not only filmed but developed over a 12-year period. The only parallel that can be fairly made is with Michael Winterbottom's Everyday, shot over five years to allow for the natural ageing of the protagonists. With Boyhood, Richard Linklater realises what even one of the most innovative and visionary directors, Lars von Trier, only envisioned with his Dimension project, launched in 1991 as a film to be shot for 3' every year over a 33-year period, with a few days of shooting each year, only to be abandoned after only 6 years and released as a 27-minute short film in 2010.
Linklater instead was able to reach the end of his project, and thankfully so since the final output is one of the most significant movies of the last few years and leaves an indelible mark on filmmaking. Filmed only few days every year, Boyhood was a true work-in-progress, as the script was only loosely structured at the beginning and left open to be filled with elements of the actors' lives, such as the family background of Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette and the director himself, as well as adapted to the natural growth of the actors and the world around. Boyhood follows Mason, a boy from Texas beautifully and naturally played by Austin-born Eller Coltrane, from age six till he goes to college twelve years later.
With the phantom of The Truman Show hovering above Boyhood, the film is not only a come-of-age excellent movie, as it might be viewed with a superficial eye, but a very delicate and yet deep study of life as it unfolds for most people, and this reflects in the natural involvement that the audience experiences during the almost three hours of the film and the familiarity that oozes from the characters and their developments.
Richard Linklater is not new to film projects that have a vision that goes beyond a short-term horizon, as proven by the (so far) trilogy of Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013), featuring as well Ethan Hawke. However, as challenging as that project was, it was still a relatively traditional series, or sequels, while Boyhood is unprecedented and probably the closest thing to the adherence of life and art to have reached the silver screen.
Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind, release 33 years after his death, officially holds the record for the longest movie production time in history at 48 years, but the last Welles' credited film, and few others that took years to finish, differ substantially from Boyhood which, since inception, was thought to be not only filmed but developed over a 12-year period. The only parallel that can be fairly made is with Michael Winterbottom's Everyday, shot over five years to allow for the natural ageing of the protagonists. With Boyhood, Richard Linklater realises what even one of the most innovative and visionary directors, Lars von Trier, only envisioned with his Dimension project, launched in 1991 as a film to be shot for 3' every year over a 33-year period, with a few days of shooting each year, only to be abandoned after only 6 years and released as a 27-minute short film in 2010.
Linklater instead was able to reach the end of his project, and thankfully so since the final output is one of the most significant movies of the last few years and leaves an indelible mark on filmmaking. Filmed only few days every year, Boyhood was a true work-in-progress, as the script was only loosely structured at the beginning and left open to be filled with elements of the actors' lives, such as the family background of Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette and the director himself, as well as adapted to the natural growth of the actors and the world around. Boyhood follows Mason, a boy from Texas beautifully and naturally played by Austin-born Eller Coltrane, from age six till he goes to college twelve years later.
With the phantom of The Truman Show hovering above Boyhood, the film is not only a come-of-age excellent movie, as it might be viewed with a superficial eye, but a very delicate and yet deep study of life as it unfolds for most people, and this reflects in the natural involvement that the audience experiences during the almost three hours of the film and the familiarity that oozes from the characters and their developments.
Richard Linklater is not new to film projects that have a vision that goes beyond a short-term horizon, as proven by the (so far) trilogy of Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013), featuring as well Ethan Hawke. However, as challenging as that project was, it was still a relatively traditional series, or sequels, while Boyhood is unprecedented and probably the closest thing to the adherence of life and art to have reached the silver screen.