Boyhood (2014, Dir. Richard Linklater, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ****

Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater

Boyhood is the story told through the eyes of Mason (Coltrane) as he transitions from the age of six to eighteen. We see him move from house to house in Texas and interact with the various acquaintances along the way as he and his family mature and grow on an ongoing journey.

For all his critical popularity and financial success, I've always felt that Richard Linklater should be much wider known than he is. His films are well known, but in midst of directors that arose around the same time as him like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, Linklater was smaller as a bankable name. That may finally be set to change with colossal amount of praise showered on his latest film, Boyhood; a near three-hour film shot over a staggering twelve years.

 Linklater's a director with a very solid set of themes and ideas running through his films. Time is an important factor and is a theme that is central to Boyhood and Linklater's most comparable works to it, the trilogy of Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013) with both films exploring the same characters over periods of several years. There's also the similarity of actor Ethan Hawke making an appearance and in Boyhood, he makes a charismatic presence as main character Mason's unmarried father.

 Authenticity in actors and performance is also important to Linklater which is even evident in casting genuine musicians in one of Linklater's less overtly experimental films, School Of Rock (2003) and through this we don't just see the characters grow, we see the actors grow just as much, especially with young star Ellar Coltrane and Linkager's own daughter, Lorelei as Mason's older sister.

This film rests a lot on the performances of the cast and generally doesn't disappoint. Both Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater show skill as younger actors and the supporting vast is likeable and interesting. To be fair, the film could just as much be seen as the story of Patrica Arquette as Mason's mother rather than Mason himself and Patricia Arquette gamely gives a very strong performance of a varied role.

Unlike most conventional films, Boyhood doesn't have a plot in the traditional sense. The film is simply a progression of the lives of the characters and catches some nice minutiae about family life and also serves an interesting time capsule for the different times in which the film was shot, looking towards the pop culture of the period. Certain aspects do get repetitive and the film's take on fatherhood is skewed towards a slightly negative view on father figures and repeating that theme a little too much, even if Marco Parella's turn as an abusive and alcoholic step-father is very memorable. Those daunted by the film's length should be reassured that the film fills its long runtime very well and as both an experiment in film-making and a portrait of family life, Richard Linklater has made a strong piece of work.