(:)(:)(:)(:) 4 enthusiastic snouts up for Boyhood in theaters now. Directed, written and conceived by Richard Linklater (of Before Sunset fame), this extraordinary fictional piece chronicles the life of a young man, Mason, from age 5 to age 18--using the same actor (Ellar Coltrane) as he himself grows up.
For this viewer long accustomed to different actors playing the same person as they grow (and to watch actors who are much older than the child they are playing), it was almost overly intimate to watch the same actor play his own age over a 12 year period. It gave the film a quality of a documentary, even when it was clearly not one and was confusing to my senses.
As riveting as it was to watch Mason age, it was also interesting to watch the people who played his parents (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) age 12 years.
The story itself: absentee dad, single mom doing her best with alcoholic jerks for husbands, held my attention and made me care about the characters. But the central conceit is what actually kept me hooked throughout.
Not to be missed.
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