Doctor Strange
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,262
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
"Boyhood" - Richard Linklater's two hour and 45 minutes magnum opus from 2014. The film follows a young boy through 12 turbulent years of his life. The catch? Linklater films the same principal leads all the way through over a span of 12 years. Like life itself, the film grows on you slowly showing the pitfalls of being the youngest child of a single mom who conceives poorly and marries even more tragically twice over. Stellar performances, great understated direction (more like a documentary than a feature) and a wonderful script make this film almost a must see. Life's real monsters are poverty, alcoholic stepdads, rotten teachers, crappy bosses and the powerlessness of youth. After a while you keep waiting for the Hollywood "drama"... the car crash, the suicide you know... something! But it never happens... and by the end, you're fine with that.
Worf
I think this film is another brilliant experiment from the always interesting Linklater... but at least for me, it mostly fails as drama.
While watching the same actors age through 12 years is fascinating, somewhat in the manner of Michael Apted's Up documentaries, I found that that actual story presented wasn't all that interesting. I really wanted to love it - it's such a unique idea and heroic endeavor - but despite excellent acting, I found the characters pretty meh. If it hadn't been shot across 12 years, hardly anyone would consider it a brilliantly observed film... it's just another dysfunctional family indie flick.
Still, I must admit that it's a remarkable and unique film, even if I was personally disappointed.