A review of the movie Boyhood, released in July

I still cannot grasp the way my little brother’s voice slightly cracks now, at the age of 12, a whole eight years younger than me, and I still find the growth spurts he has undertaken while I am away at college compelling.

It’s visible the transformation my little brother is going through, but all I see sometimes is his infant body resting in my arms when I was close to the age he is now.

I can mark from my observations just how he has physically and intellectually matured, but it’s strange that I don’t recall doing this same internal mapping to myself during the years I transcended from boy to man.

Such is the continuing speculation I experienced in the ambitious film Boyhood in which a family, played by the same cast throughout the years, grows in a span of 12 or so years.

Director and writer Richard Linklater remarkably captures the essence of major universally shared themes accompanying “growing up” in a way that feels entirely organic and seamless.

Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, is literally growing in front of our eyes on the screen.

He faces strained parents, mom’s continuing marriage failures, a slightly older and very bratty sister, big-city moves and an array of hallmark events that shapes Mason from being the early six year-old boy in fields dabbling in cloud art to a freshman in college with conflicted direction.

Though Mason’s life is his own unique experience, it is virtually impossible not to relate to a mid-elementary-school year move, or vigorous imitations of Brittany Spears to ourselves.
The audience, though watching Mason on screen, is taken on an escapade of personal nostalgia that resonates throughout the entire movie.

It is nearly unfeasible to capture only a handful of instrumental life events that shape you to be who you are, but Linklater finds just the right moments to make this film feel eggshell smooth.

Boyhood leaves you asking strong introspective questions about who you are and why in a genuine and powerful way. I definitely say this film is worth multiple trips.