laura_macleod Review of Boyhood

Boyhood (I) (2014)

Not at all interesting after an hour - a disappointment and a wasted chance

[17 July 2014]

Boyhood begins with a flourish - two extra sweet kids with big personalities in a typical American household of the 21st century (ish!). We are introduced to Mason and his sister and everything about them is cute, open and what you would expect from children of their age but with something special too. There is promise in this film - funny family episodes, great acting from Arquette and Hawke plus cameos from a variety of interesting people. We see the kids get older and various traumas occur from the Mother's poor choices in men and parenting - as Mason reaches about 15 years old, the film suddenly gets very stale and very boring. He is no longer cute - but that does not matter if only the director could have got something out of him that was not a monotone of dialogue that has been imbued with the dull monotony of the brain dumb video game generation - something really happens to those kids - they become robotic and that goes for his sister too. Feel very sad to see it - all the personality goes out of these kids from too much computer deadening. That would not matter so much if only Linklater could have followed up perhaps even a 10th of the story lines - so many people left to wander away and no one knows anything about them and the effect on the kids. I mean the mother has a life changing relationship with an alcoholic university professor with two kids that are obviously bonded with Mason and his sister - they spend some years living together - the impact of this split is left high and dry. The film goes on for about 1 hour and 40 mins too long and the aspects of Mason's story that are brought out from the director in these long winded and terribly slow agonising (can't wait to leave the cinema) minutes are very boring. Sadly I left the movie not caring two hoots about Mason and that seemed a waste to me.