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Danny, I felt the same and you said it beautifully: Boyhood is effortlessly universal.
I’ve seen Boyhood four times. I don’t know what you guys are talking about when you say the second half is weaker – the entire movie builds and builds as such a cumulative experience that every scene in the end carries so much unexpected weight. I was sporadically crying for the final hour of the movie. If you could (somehow) separate the movie from the way it was shot, it’s brilliant all the same. There’s no gimmick here.
I think it’s one of the best movies of the decade (or more?). A movie that’s effortlessly universal.
“it is a colossal picture that leaves such an impression capable to neutralize anything the “tough” Oscar season might throw its way.”
I completely agree. Boyhood it’s a COLOSSAL PICTURE, a true American cinematic masterpiece and the ending is one of the best I have ever experienced. That last scene is so simple and yet so rich and evocative on so many levels. It’s a little scene captured with honesty and great insight, it moved me and made me feel the world evolving through millions of years one simple insignificant moment at the time.
A ‘colossal’ picture? Leave that description for those movies that truly are big in scope and breadth. This is a movie about nothing. It would be on permanent at Seinfeld’s house.
I haven’t seen BOYHOOD since I saw it in theaters, but just looking at the random clips in this featurette everything comes back and hits you. I heard someone said BOYHOOD could be, in the long run, “too small and delicate” to weather the Oscar season. I think that’s nonsense, it is a colossal picture that leaves such an impression capable to neutralize anything the “tough” Oscar season might throw its way. We’ll see though.
Or “Twelve Years of Boredom”. Maybe “Borehood”
“12 years on film”… Couldn’t help remembering last year’s winner, “12 Years a Slave”. 😛
And this featurette definitely made me emotional, so it did its job. But that’s also because I watched it for the first time last week and I was graduating college that day, lol.
I don’t think Boyhood is perfect. I think the second half is a lot weaker, which makes sense because it’s a long time to keep it up, but that’s what you really have to fight against. I don’t think Ellar was talented enough to carry the film in the second half with what seemed like little direction from Richard. BUT I watched it a second time and I think it works a lot better than I initially thought. And either way, I do love the film.
My biggest qualm is that I thought a much stronger ending would’ve been Patricia Arquette’s emotional final monologue, followed by him driving off to college. Bam. EMOTION. Instead, that happened, and then it dragged on longer, to college, and had a really weird scene with dialogue that was so cliche it hurt. I don’t think it ended as strongly as it could have. But like I said, I’m glad I liked it a lot more the second time, and I already liked it to begin with. And I’ve always loved Patricia Arquette, so I’m extremely happy to see her get such acclaim for it. I thought she was brilliant.
I loved ”Boyhood,” too, and my respect for Richard Linklater just multiplied after I found the following video on YouTube: At the SXSW festival, Linklater is interviewing Wes Anderson, praising his work in ”The Grand Budapest Hotel” and asking smart questions. So cool to hear these fine filmmakers talk shop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTnAGKbTT1I
I LOVED Boyhood.
I returned to see it a second time. I have seen many novies this year, and I believe that 2014 will be remembered for Boyhoood,
Oscar or no Oscar for BP, if doesn’t matter in the big picture of movie history. Boyhood is an exceptional accomplishment.. It MADE HISTORY this year, just like Schindler’s List did in 1993 and Titanic in 1997, or like Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Avatar in 2009.
Al, you crack me up!
Even if was 30 years, it doesnt deserve a Oscar. The first half is good, the second is boring as hell, not even Ethan Hawke’s performance (great, by the way) can save this. At least is better than Crash and The hurt locker, maybe the worst Oscar winners of all time.
When you think of everything that could have gone wrong with the production team and the actors:
the funding goes away
someone gets hurt or killed
someone gets arrested and goes to prison
someone decides they no longer wants to be included
or even, just what if
Ellar or Lorelai had decided they wanted a sex change.
They pulled this off fantastically.
I think this little feature is fantastic, but if there was ever a need for a full-length documentary of making a movie, this would be it.