Boyhood

I love Patricia Arquette and could not wait to see this movie though not my favorite type of movie. Everyone was incredible in this movie from start to finish. Ellar Coltrane was superb as Mason as was Lorelei Linklater as Samantha. Ethan Hawke and Patricia were amazing as the divorced parents who balanced real life problems. The 12 year span of filming was astounding as one watched the kids grow up and the parents age. One of best movies I have ever seen.

It is a simple premise - watching a family interact and grow over time. But, if you are in the mood for a film that requires many stunt doubles, green screens, lots of action and explosions, this is not that film. If you want silly humor, a romantic comedy, or Shakespear dialog, this is not that film. But if you want to see a film with a real heart, and be touched by it, this is that film. At the same time you are witnessing true art. This is an example of challenging an art medium to take it to new places that no other form can go. It may already be one of the most important films in a long time. I'm guessing time will deem this not only a classic; but, a redefintion of what a classic can be. It is well acted by the entire ensemble who with crew showed amazing commitment. You just know each person at one point said, "is this worth it? Can I get out? OK, I'll keep going. Let's hope it comes out to be something." It is amazing the camera-work and cinematography felt consistent through the whole film and the editing was superb bridging transitions. It is a hearty experience that will remain in your memories.

This movie, despite the detractors here, is well worth the price and the hype. Of course for those who do not understand anything outside of the norm of modern American cinema- because it is not formulaic it may not appeal. The feat of filming the same actors over the given time span is ion itself noteworthy. For those who say it has no story, no plot... it is about life- People's lives.... and all of our lives are stories. They just aren't some fictional action film. This is about a family's journey, and to be honest- a very realistic view. I have known versions of every character- both in subtle and full blown versions. the guy who becomes the responsible adult when the right woman enters his life.... the woman who ends up with the wrong guy for stability..... the artistic kid who falls in love and keeps his convictions while his girl decides she wants something more shallow. Not every story or every character has to be so in your face- this isn't a comic book action movie. This movie is very real. And it is very much worth the watch. I saw it in the theater and chose to buy it here as well. It deserves the nominations and awards.

Most actors commit themselves to a 3-6 month shoot with the possibility of the need for scenes to be reshot. The principals in this movie made a twelve-year commitment to a recurrent project. Seemlessly we see Ellar Coltrane grow from a 5-year-old to 18-year-old manhood college-bound. The others who follow Mason on this journey are the actors who play his Mother, his sister, and Ethan Hawke who plays his biological Father. We see hair styles change, limbs lengthen until ‘mother’ looks up at son, beards and moustaches come and go and hair show signs of greying. Intelligence is no guarantee of wise decisions and Mason watches mom marry and divorce three husbands resulting in too many moves to count. Where his Father is concerned the child is father of the man. Though a recurring presence in Mason’a life the child who fathered a son remains very much a dilettante throughout. Mother’s and Sister’s growth are not neglected. These characters are more than props. An interesting sociological study, a decent movie. I probably need to watch it again. The DVD provides no extras and the previews are execrable. Watched it the second time. Mason is a left-lane hog just like his father. The movie has teenage sex, underage drinking, drugs. The director cast his own daughter.

This is a wonderful, heartfelt film that shows us 12 years in the life of a boy. Rather than the typical single arc seen in most films, Boyhood captures the many large and small and life lessons that occur over the course of one childhood. I love the way the camera lingers on the face of Mason as he processes an event. Director Linklater lets the viewer ponder and, most importantly, feel what Mason is going through. Part memory, part projection, part parental critique, its a variety of moments in the life of a kid who isn't a hero, he is simply along for the ride. As a mom of teenagers, I was also looking objectively at my own parenting decisions, getting to see some of my words of "wisdom" filter through the mind of this child. Boyhood doesn't try to give us a neat, condensed message or lesson learned from the adults in his life. Rather, Mason comes to learn for himself that life is messy and that adults don't know the meaning of life either. We are all going through this ride of a life for the first and only time, trying to figure it all out.

だが、ここで筆者が見つけて買ったものはリージョン違いで 日本では観ることができない品でした。 皆様のお間違えの無きように。

La commande est arrivée dans les délais impartis, soigneusement emballée. Le Blu-Ray est conforme à la description faite par le vendeur : neuf sous blister, par conséquent le disque est sans une tache ni griffure. Ravie de l'acquisition, compliments au vendeur !

Una película que siempre me ha gustado desde su estreno. Lo que no me ha gustado es unos extras muy descafeinados en un reportaje de apenas 3 minutos, cuando la misma productora de la película, IFC Films, ha publicado contenido en su cuenta de Youtube de mas de 15 minutos entre making of, videoclip de la canción de la película de Family of the Years,... Realmente mal en este aspecto. Por otro lado esta es la versión italiana, se puede ver en castellano perfectamente, lo unico que cambia es la caja que almacena el Bluray.

La vie et rien d'autre. Les enfants grandissent, les adultes vieillissent. Accompagner Mason et les siens douze ans durant et lire les marques du temps sur le visages des acteurs, offrent une sensation inédite. Le temps file devant nos yeux, sans les artifices et contraintes de la fiction traditionnelle. Sans pose d'auteur ni destructuration artificielle du récit, Richard Linklater nous livre ici un petit miracle de fraicheur et de gravité mêlées. Le projet est ambitieux mais la forme est simple. Une mise en scène souvent frontale et sans effets avec quelques plans-séquences, pour ne rien perdre de l'instant. Un traitement d'une profonde humilité. Le temps fait l'oeuvre. Quelque chose de nos vraies vies, sans maquillages. Le scénario se structure sur la scolarité de Mason, jusqu'à ce qu'il devienne un "Lauréat" et quittte le nid. L'essentiel sont les petits riens du quotidien et les drames toujours abordés en pointillés. Pas de pathos, ni d'hystérie. Les ellipses consolent. Boyhood n'est pas "un" drame mais le conte d'une vie ordinaire. L'histoire d'un petit garçon, Mason, élevé avec sa soeur par une mère fragile mais déterminée. Le père, séparé, est décrit avec tendresse. Immature, un peu artiste, mais profondément attachant et vivant "totalement" les rares moments passés auprès de ses enfants. Hommage à ce courage de tous les jours. Pour que la vie tienne debout toute seule, que nos enfants aient de quoi grandir. Rester présent. De ces rencontres, moments de constructions et de confrontations, ruptures, envols et périodes de doute, Boyhood délivre un récit toujours simple et juste. Jamais pesant ni plombant. Même si, en quelques lignes de dialogue ici et là, des vérités précieuse sur la vie nous sont confiées. Au terme de 2h45 de film et douze ans de vie, je suis ressorti le coeur apaisé. Boyhood est une oeuvre profondément humaniste. Chronique, récit d'apprentissage, odyssée, Un vibrant encouragement à aller de l'avant et vivre pleinement chaque émotion. Douze de tournage pour glorifier l'instant présent. Magnifique Patricia Arquette, composant sans fards l'admirable personnage de la mère (un oscar mérité). Ethan Hawke, toujours subtil dans son jeu, en père fragile mais plein d'amour. Irrésistibles Ellar Coltrane, enfant du cinéma, et sa partenaire Lorelei Linklater, propre fille du cinéaste. Et ces personnages avancent au fil du temps, ou plutôt le temps fait avancer leur histoire... Et le réalisateur les accompagnent avec la même délicatesse. Suivre ainsi ses personnages, Linklater sait faire. Dans son triptique Before Sunrise (1995) Before Sunset (2004) et Before Midnight (2013) Il aura vécu 18 ans de l'histoire de Jesse et Céline ( Ethan Hawke et Julie Delpy). Marque d'un cinéaste dont le principal carburant est la vie. Pas forcément une évidence quand certains "auteurs" s'égarent dans la citation, voir l'auto-citation. Il est bon de se rappeler que notre brève et fugitive existence de mortel reste un puissant scénario. "What's the point... off all this?" Vivre, tout simplement. LE BLU-RAY : Agréable sensation ciné. Un transfert HD respectueux de la texture 35mm. Douze ans de tournage pour un résultat totalement homogène. Pas de piqué à l'épate, un fin voile de grain mais un niveau de détail tout à fait honorable et des couleurs profondes. Le blu-ray creuse la distance avec le DVD sur les plans larges. Un résultat simple et chaleureux, à l'image du film. Également sur le blog Les chroniques ciné de Francisco

Is the film really about boyhood? Yes, partly, because there’s a boy in it, at least early on. But the boy has a sister, so it’s about girlhood too, which is to say childhood for both of them. But we watch them grow out of childhood through a sort of time-lapse photography, so it’s also about teenhood leading into early adulthood. And these children are not orphans, so the film also touches on parents and parenting, or what passes for the process in the strain and struggle of the parents in confusing circumstances. But beyond these things, these stages and challenges of life, it’s about the enigma of time and human reflection on it, on the elusive quality of its passing and its power to alter people and perspectives. Whatever time is, it’s deeply bound up with space or place. Einstein was the first to notice this, to understand the enigma of time and comprehend how it operates. Both time and space are the same, he said, or two sides of the same coin, and this is so because the coin does not stand still. It moves in space, in our case at a speed of about 68,000 mph as the earth slingshots around our local star, the sun. Which means no place can ever be the same, never in the same spot in time and space, which in turn means that you and everything must age. Stop motion, stop time. But this is impossible. Instead, we continue to vault ahead into the future because the universe is expanding, carrying us and everything else along with it. Even our sun is ageing and one day will die, all its powerhouse hydrogen spent, an event set to occur roughly five billion years from now. These things aren’t mentioned or described in the film, but we see their results. The boy must become the teenager who becomes the man. We fly like an arrow into the future, spiralling ahead as we cling to our star via gravity. The boy is Mason. We first meet him when he is about six years old. He lies in the grass on a sunny day staring up at the sky. What does he see? Blue vastness. What else? A grey-white patchwork of clouds. What does he see in the clouds? Shapes and designs, objects and faces. How does he see? Via energy wavelengths called photons emitted from the sun. We know them as light. The boy’s brain uses the light to model the world. Are those clouds really there? They seem to be. He sees them. They’re part of a world he was born into and knows. Why this one? Who can say? Nobody knows, including the boy. So he looks up in wonder the way children do. Why me? is the thought. Why this place, this life? Why now? What does it all mean, if it means anything? He thinks this way and we know it because we see the wonder of it in his eyes. He’s trying to figure things out. It’s in his nature to observe and wonder. He will grow up to be a quiet, introspective person. Children retain this capacity for awe. They are fresh, pure, new. All looks wondrous, quite fantastic. They’re here to learn the names of things and the concepts behind some of them. They will discover and grow. And they won’t be jaded or cynical or depressed until many years later when the world has worn them down and out, when they’ve lost their capacity to wonder or care about the point of it. Childhood is the time of freedom, a time of abandon when everything is possible, when the whole world seems made for you. The shock comes later when you discover this isn’t true and you were wrong. You were king and this was your kingdom but now this world is gone, replaced by quotidian reality. You want to go back, perhaps, but you can’t, as the arrow of time flies in one direction only, forever forward into the future. You are stuck with the reality that everything is stuck with: you must age and die. It’s built into the structure of the universe. Even our galaxy can’t go on forever. Twelve years pass in the life of Mason and those around him, a dozen years condensed into a film lasting less than three hours. At age six he plays with sister Samantha, aged eight. He also plays video games and colours shapes in his colouring book. His mother is Olivia, a rather fraught and put-upon single mum. Dad (Mason, Sr.) is around intermittently. He drives a sleek old GTO, plays guitar and keyboards, sings in a makeshift band, works once in a while, drinks and parties, brings the kids toys and presents when he visits. They love him for the presents, but also because he’s fun and funny. When he’s around he’s a hands-on dad, wrestling and rolling in the grass with them, running and playing hide-and-seek like a kid who is yet to grow up. We don’t know if this was part of the problem with Olivia — her husband’s flakiness and immaturity. But it’s clear she wants little to do with him now. Samantha wasn’t planned. She was born when both Olivia and Mason, Sr. were 23. A shotgun wedding followed, then came Mason, Jr. In Dad’s absence other men now materialise around Olivia. This happens because she’s attractive, still sexy at age 31. The boyfriends come round, and two of them end up becoming husbands during the 12-year span of the film. But they turn out to be poor choices, one an abusive alcoholic, the other an authoritarian jerk. Both eventually are jettisoned. If Olivia struggles emotionally (through three marriages and the dissolution of each), she also struggles materially and professionally — materially to hold down jobs and make ends meet, professionally to get a higher education to fulfil her dream of teaching at university. At times, or most times, she’s overwhelmed, cooking and caring for the kids, worrying for their safety, working to pay the rent, suffering from loneliness and coping with the loneliness by dealing with the demands her boyfriends bring. The family also move a lot, the social lives of the children disrupted. Just when they’ve made friends at school in one locale, they’re uprooted and lose those friends, only to repeat the process in the next place. The chaos takes its toll. The children are less grounded, more rootless than most. Olivia tries. She’s a loving mother who reads to her kids in bed at night and worries that they watch too much TV and play too many video games. She wants them to be bright and educated, to aspire and achieve in life. But it’s all so difficult and we see the wear and tear on her through the condensed timeframe of the film. Mason does his homework and does well enough in school but he’s a dreamy kid, often adrift in worlds of his own. He has fewer friends than others, perhaps because he’s solitary and different. He’s learning to think for himself, so his comments and answers to others are not thoughtless and trite. His honesty can therefore be disarming. Others don’t know what to make of him, this person who doesn’t rely on platitudes to get by. By high school his avocation has become photography. This makes total sense, as he has always been a keen and patient observer, a silent witness to events unfolding around him. He likes the distance this brings, this view from the periphery of things. He sees more clearly than others. Drink and drugs appear when he’s a teenager, 16 going on 17. But he’s wise and prudent, barely indulging, having seen and lived with the effect drink had on one of his stepfathers. Girls and his attraction to them present a different problem. How to handle both? How to proceed? A teenager wants what the hormones in his body tell him to obtain, but how to mentally process these feelings when there’s no personal experience of them to go by? A time fraught and difficult, clumsy and awkward. There are no confident teenagers. Those who seem so only pretend, afraid of being caught out. A pretty girl named Sheena becomes Mason’s steady during his senior year. He loves her. Or so he feels. They make a sweet couple. But graduation is coming and college calling, separate colleges that will separate them. They’re young and the commitment to love can be fleeting. Other opportunities arise and Sheena takes one of them, pairing off with an athlete instead of an aesthete like Mason, an athletic member of the lacrosse team. Mason can’t believe it — a jock! Sheena becomes a cliché, acts in the standard way every other high-school girl will, seduced by the alpha male sportsman. He thought she was different, more intelligent than the others, so now he must live with his faulty judgement and disappointment. The last arc of the story takes him to university at age 18. He arrives on campus and meets his new roommate in the dorm, a long-haired free-spirit named Dalton. Dalton loves hiking, nature, freedom and his beautiful hippie girlfriend Barb. They’re inseparable and seem in love with life. Barb’s roommate is Nicole. Mason meets Nicole straight away, likes her smile and demeanour. All four take off together for Big Bend National Park, a gorgeous stretch of rustic country along the Big Bend River in West Texas near Mexico. The time spent there is magical. Lovey-dovey Dalton and Barb are cosy together. Mason and Nicole seem suddenly on the verge of greater intimacy too. We’re left with the impression that Nicole is Mason’s soulmate-in-waiting. She’s a dancer, teaching jazz dance and other forms of dance to children in elementary school. She’s down to earth and unpretentious. Mason looks at her the way he used to look at clouds as a child — keenly, imaginatively. We’re pretty sure we know where this will lead. Nicole says to Mason: “You know how everyone’s always saying, ‘Seize the moment?’ I’m kind of thinking it’s the other way around. You know, like, the moment seizes us.” Mason listens, smiles, pauses, says: “Yeah. Yeah, I know. It’s constant. The moment, it’s just…it’s always right now, you know?” She says she knows. Mason looks happy hearing this unexpected wisdom from her, loving its honesty and the source of it. They sit together as the day nears sunset, the sky ablaze with bright red and yellow. He looks at her as she looks shyly at the ground then back at him, and you know for sure they want to kiss. But the film ends before they do, giving us the chance to imagine it, which of course is better and sweeter. ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ In the nostalgic reverie that is Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited”, the first-person protagonist Charles Ryder returns to a place of great remembrance. Waugh writes as follows: “‘I have been there before,’ I said; I had been there before; first with Sebastian more than twenty years ago on a cloudless day in June, when the ditches were white with fool’s parsley and meadowsweet and the air heavy with all the scents of summer.” But Charles Ryder was mistaken. He hadn’t and couldn’t have been there before. He saw a memory of a place, not the place itself. Only now in this exact moment is he in this place, but even in this exact moment the place is not fixed because he and his planet are accelerating through space and time, each thing inseparable from the other. Which means this truth: you can’t go back because there’s no back to go back to. When we return to the fond scene of some remembrance it’s always through memory or dream, not through physical action. The past is gone forever except in the narrative we retain of it in our heads. And we have to do this for the sake of sanity because the story we tell ourselves of ourselves is the thing that gives coherent meaning to our lives. We are the tale we tell that tells us who we are. The place of remembrance is a reminder of it, though only an illusion seen in a landscape. Never, ever are you going back to anything. This is what the film means, or means to me. It is visionary, prophetic and wise. It handles a reality difficult to comprehend in the best way possible — emotionally, stating its purpose from the very beginning. Mason as young boy stares deep into the deep blue. He’s emotionally connected to it somehow, though quite how he is yet to comprehend. He will spend his life reflecting on it, feeling that such reflection is important. Whatever the great unity might be, he longs to know how he fits into it. His is the self-examined life, the best of all possible, as Socrates told us. His search for the truth of reality as expressed by the cosmos is a journey of exploration taken deep into himself. This fine observation made by Jorge Luis Borges in another context wisely anticipates this film: “Centuries of centuries and only in the present do things happen.”