"Boyhood"

Back to the movies. Finally saw "Boyhood" last night. It's something I've been putting off for awhile for a number of reasons. Rick Linklater is, well, an interesting filmmaker to me. I like some of his stuff, love some of his stuff, and detest some of his stuff. I could not finish "Waking Life," for instance, but I think "School of Rock" is one of the best examples of how to make a studio-financed comedy. "Dazed and Confused" was such an accurate portrayal of my high school years, that I had tears in my eyes the first time I saw it at the theater. And I didn't even like my high school years.

"Boyhood" tells the story of a boy growing up in Texas with his older sister and their parents divorced early on. He and his sister live with the mom and see their dad rather sporadically. As you probably know, the movie was filmed over a period of 11 years, so that natural changes in the actors' appearance could be utilized, along with input from the child actors as they grew. The sister character was played by Linklater's daughter, while the title "boy" was played by a newcomer (whose dad, incidentally, I know through the music scene).

This is a tough movie to write about. It is very definitely one of these coming-of-age, slice-of-life films, modeled after something like "The 400 Blows." Not a lot happens in terms of dramatic plot points, and yet there are some. The mother, in particular, goes through drama, namely a couple of husbands she has no business being with but are clear opposites to the father of the kids. Neither of these relationships end well. And the father has his own sort of transformation, based on a change in his attitude and lifestyle. That one's almost more jarring. Still, I thought all of these changes, etc. are handled well and most importantly, believably.

Going to keep this short, before I get into spoiler territory; in a nutshell, I thought this was terrific. Bill Wise, another musician friend, has a scene-stealing small part toward the end of the movie; it was a joy seeing him.

It took awhile to see (also literally, it's around 2 and 3/4 hours), but it was worth it. As you were....