“Boyhood” (2014) is a Triumph in Artistic Ambition (Part I of II)

8/10

Of the many things to love about “Boyhood” (2014), I loved most the sheer ambition. To create a coming-of-age movie using the same actor through his own growth filmed over 12 years is an audacious undertaking.

Consider the challenges.

Director Richard Linklater used the same performers to portray not only the protagonist, Mason Evans, Jr. (Ellar Coltrain) and his immediate family that consists of his mother Oliver (Patricia Arquette), his father Mason, Sr. (Ethan Hawke) and his sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), but also the ensemble cast that includes his grandmother (Libby Villari), his step-father (Marco Perella), his step-sister (Jamie Howard) and step-brother (Andrew Villarreal) and his mother’s live-in boyfriend (Brad Hawkins). Twelve years is a long time. A random event could have made any of these actors unavailable during that period, which alone would have jeopardized the project.

Linklater is credited with also writing the script, but this isn’t a standard screenplay. No doubt he had a general vision of the journey Mason takes from the age of six to eighteen, but he couldn’t have had a complete script when filming started since he chose to have the movie take place in the “today” at the time of the filming. He had to write it as the world unfolded over the years, which makes dialogue like that involving Star Wars prescient.

Linklater’s artistic risk alone is worth commendation, but the film is more than just a gimmick. Its triumph is in the beautiful story told authentically through compelling performances.

The story centers around Mason, along with his sister Samantha and mother Olivia. Olivia, who is divorced from his father Mason, Sr., eventually moves from a small town in Texas to Houston in order to go back to school and get a better job. Along the way, Mason gets a new family when Olivia marries Bill Welbrock, who turns out to be an abusive drunk. After leaving Bill, Olivia gets a teaching job at a university and moves in with Jim, who becomes another father figure for Mason.

What is great about this movie is that it tells a genuine story about life, which is always complicated but never clichéd. Mason smokes weed and drinks alcohol in high school, but he ends up just fine. Mason’s step father is an abusive alcoholic, but Mason gets along with his step-sister and step-brother. Jim also turns out to be a drunk, but it’s he who introduces Mason to photography, which becomes Mason’s passion. Mason Sr. isn’t always around, but he’s a great father when he does spend time with Mason and his sister.

(continued to Part II)