Mundane, empty of CGI effects, and seemingly plotless — Boyhood is everything a movie is not. It is better — it is life. Filmed over the span of 12 years with the same cast, Boyhood is a 2014 American coming-of-age drama that captures the daily ins and outs of Mason’s life (played by Ellar Coltraine). From casual road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations, this movie shines light on the big moments and small— as well as the ups and downs life has to offer — allowing the viewers to look back on similar moments in their own lives.

The first shot the audience sees is of a clear blue sky, which quickly cuts to the person looking up at it — Mason. Lying down on the grass with one arm tucked underneath his head, Mason has sandy brown hair, blue eyes, and a skinny frame. Like any other Caucasian boy, he does not seem to particularly stand out. However, as the audience watches him grow up on the very screen before their eyes, he becomes an incredibly dear and beloved character.

Born to a teenage mother (Olivia) and an irresponsible, initially absent, father (Mason Snr.), Mason and his sister relocate from home to home due to their mother’s disastrous marriages and financial troubles. Centering on Mason, the film shows how he not only changes throughout the years, going from playing video games to reading Playboy magazines to drinking and dating, but also how he navigates the challenges his parents’ initially unstable lives pose.

Achieving Verisimilitude

Unlike most movies, Richard Linklater — the director — focuses on the present, everyday moments, effortlessly capturing the natural changes within the characters. The continuity of the editing style is noticeable, yet in no way dramatic. Throughout the film, the audience watches as Mason grows out his hair, transitioning from a quiet, reserved boy who observes his mother to a more defensive, outgoing personality, making angry outbursts about his mother’s questionable choice in men. As stubble appears on Mason’s chin, he comes to recognize the hypocrisy of the adults around him and the abuse of patriarchal male authority. These experiences are not exceptional in any way — they are common to the audience. However, Linklater’s ability to capture all of these minute changes on screen — suspending the audience in Mason’s life — makes the film’s verisimilitude all the more astonishing.

Paralleling Mason’s coming of age is Olivia’s coming of age as well. At the start of the film, Olivia seems more like a child herself than an adult, having only graduated high school. Sometimes she coddles her children — other times she forgets that she is a parent, engaging in childish arguments. However, as the years pass, she grows into the role of both adult and parent, learning from her experiences and trudging forward in the face of adversity. Indeed, she graduates college, receives her master’s degree, and becomes a psychology professor. Throughout the film, the audience sees her mature in more ways than one and admires her resilience.

The Process: Road Bumps and All

A movie filmed over the span of 12 years sounds skeptical at best, which is why few were willing to invest in the project. This forced Linklater to be a rather frugal director. Indeed, he comments, “We didn't have much time or [the] budget so our editing room isn't that deep in footage." Despite these financial obstacles, however, Linklater was unwavering in his commitment to the project, taking it in an unprecedented direction.

Going with the flow, Linklater did not have a completed script initially. Revisiting the previous year’s footage, he revised the script for multiple years before settling into a set script. Contributing to this script-writing process were the actors as well, who integrated and injected their own life experiences into their character’s stories, which allowed them to deliver breathtakingly honest performances.

Indeed, nearing the end of the film, Mason goes on a rant about Facebook — scrutinizing how people live in an awkward middle ground of half living their lives through their phone and half not — which was inspired by Coltraines’s actual views on the social media platform. Moreover, Mason’s love for photography mirrors Coltraine’s love for the art when Mason is a teenager in the movie. As Linklater notes, "Ellar [Coltraine, who plays Mason] and Lorelei [Mason's sister] play fictional characters who reflect their own tastes.” In this way, the actors act out their own personalities, rendering their acting natural and seemingly improvised, when it is anything but.

Behind the Scenes & Awards

What was filming like for the child actors? Linklater explains that “It was just this thing – if your parents send you to summer camp and you keep on coming back and then turn 13 or 14 and they say: 'Do you still want to keep going to that summer camp?' And you go: 'Yeah, that has been fun' every year.’” Initially, Coltraine felt discomfort over there being “so much of [him] on screen.” However, coming to understanding the film’s larger meaning and importance, he now sees himself “as a conduit in the film, a vessel for expressing existence.”

And express existence he did. It is no wonder why *Boyhood* has been met with such wide praise from its audience. Nominated for five Golden Globes, the film won Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress forArquette, and six Academy Awards. The film also won five BAFTA awards, with Linklater winning Silver Bear for Best Director at the 64th Berlin International Film Movie.

That being said, while the movie has achieved critical acclaim, it has also invited criticism over how mundane it was, which is perhaps understandable in the context of other mainstream movies offered in today's day and age — *Boyhood* is certainly not a spectacular movie in itself. However, it is spectacular in what it achieves: life as it is. Watching it, the audience feels as though they are watching a time lapse of someone else’s intimate life, relating to the film in more ways than one.

Film Information

Release Date: January 19, 2014

Director: Richard Linklater

Cast: Ellar Coltraine, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater, Ethan Hawke

Running time: 165 minutes

Genre: Coming of Age