I’ll be unoriginal like everybody else and say that “Boyhood” is the film of the decade. Why? Well no one in motion picture history had ever shot a film for 12 years, chronicling the life of an actual boy – from the age of six to eighteen. In 1924 Erich von Stroheim made a film called “Greed” which ran for almost 8 hours. That film was butchered down to 2 hours and the original version burnt forever. We have come a long way since then. For us film lovers “Boyhood” represents the unlimited possibilities of film itself.
“Boyhood” came out right after the 50th anniversary of Michael Apted’s great documentary series, known as the “Up Series”, which had been following fourteen children since 1964 (the latest installment is “56 Up” released in 2012). But “Boyhood” is not a documentary- it’s good old ‘fiction-film’. Previously, my all-time favorite coming-of-age film was “Harold and Maude” (1971), but after watching this one I had to reconsider. The coming-of-age genre tries to capture the essence of growing up, that is, how and when a young person becomes a grown-up. Does anyone remember that coming-of-age TV series “Wonder Years”? I was addicted to it.
Richard Linklater who wrote and directed the film took a big risk with the way he chose to tell the story of a boy. The storytelling is so simple and unpretentious, lacking all glittery cinema-ornaments, that it might not appear to be a very special film- it might not give you that kick-in-the-gut feeling. But that’s alright, life is like that, we only realise our happiest moments in retrospective. We see the boy gradually growing up in front of our eyes, without any announcement on the screen, it all happens “quietly.” Ellar Coltrane, who played the boy, has all the ingredients to become a movie-star just like Jean-Pierre Leaud who played the boy in François Truffaut’s coming-of-age film series “The Adventures of Antoine Doinel.”
I am rooting for “Boyhood” at the Oscars for – Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress.
I am so glad that they released it in Dhaka. I beg the multiplex owners to please release more non-action, non-3D films.
