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Boyhood


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Just saw this trailer for Richard Linklater's new movie Boyhood. Apparently it was shot over the course of 12 years using the same actors, and basically tracks the growth of a young boy from ages 7-19. I love the "Before" trilogy and the trailer looks pretty awesome, just wanted to share with you guys:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-mbHXyWX4



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If I can convince someone to go and watch this with me I'll check it out in the cinema. Otherwise I'll wait for the DVD.

I heard about this last year but forgot about it.
Definitely looks interesting. What's the Before trilogy about?

It starts with Before Sunrise. I'll just copy the description from IMDB:

A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.

It's a very good movie. Talkative, but not boring at all.

The other parts of the trilogy are Before Sunset and Before Midnight. They follow the same characters at different stages in their lifes. I haven't seen them yet, but they have been very favorably reviewed as well.

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  • 4 months later...

Well, it's a masterpiece. Might be Linklater's finest. While it's obviously not the first film about growing up, there isn't one quite like this, that so gradually and naturally shows it.



While there's dramatic moments, there isn't a traditional movie beginning, middle and end, with climatic moments throughout. It's just living in the moment, pretty much like every life (and that's one of the themes of the movie). I can't recommend this enough.


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I've seen a bunch of good reviews and one scathing one.

Basically, if it weren't for the central conceit or gimmick or whatever you want to call it that the actors age for real, would it still be an interesting and enjoyable movie?

Yeah. Remarkable is the word for it I think. It's hard to describe really. It doesn't have any feel good moments and never feels artificial at any point. It just feels real.
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Ow, so there was a thread about Boyhood? :o I thought it was weird that nobody made one. Boyhood is a masterpiece imo. Without the gimmick it would still be a highly enlightening movie. From what I have seen of Linklater so far (Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused, school of rock, etc.), this was his best film. Of course, I do like his movies very much, so perhaps I'm biased.


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I've seen a bunch of good reviews and one scathing one.

Basically, if it weren't for the central conceit or gimmick or whatever you want to call it that the actors age for real, would it still be an interesting and enjoyable movie?

Does it matter though? The central conceit is there, it is original and it adds to the movie immensely. It makes the moments feel real. Would I have been as interested if they changed actors every few years? Probably not. But I don't think that should be a knock against the movie. Personally, I loved it.

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Just saw this movie and loved it. The only thing I have against it is that it dragged on a bit at the end - I felt there were a few false endings in the last 30 minutes.



That aside, I thought it was a brilliant movie. It just felt like a very natural and real movie; the dialogue, the interactions between characters, the lack of perfection in the characters. I didn't even really like the main character but I could see that it was a real depiction of a teenager (as a high school teacher I deal with many of these people every day!). It's not your typical driving movie with various acts and plot, but it was thought-provoking and the real-ness of it was what really got me.


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It was wierd, it was like watching a kid grow up right in front of me. I think I would have liked it better if the kid was just completely average and not an artsy type.

Yeah I mentioned this in the Watch, Watched, Watching thread.. but did they write the characters over the course of 12 years to match the way the actors grew up? Because if that kid has some alternative personality and was acting during the last couple of periods in his life, then that was absolutely amazing. I suspect they molded the story around him.. which was still remarkably pulled off if you ask me.

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IIRC Linklater had some idea of what he wanted to show, but since the movie is shot like a collection of short stories, he had the chance to rewrite the script every year. During those rewrites, he tried to emulate the lead actors life as close as possible in some aspects. IIRC the photography angle was put in there because Ellar liked that himself (Linklater wanted something artistic, but instead of writing or music he chose for photography instead).


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  • 3 months later...

2014 sure was a damn good year for movies. When I saw Interstellar, I thought that was the movie of the year. Then I saw Grand Budapest Hotel, and that took the spot. Then the same deal with Birdman. Now I saw this movie a couple of hours ago. Hot damn, I think it might steal the place from Birdman's place. There is such beautiful humanity woven into the seams of this masterpiece, that's at once very poignant and also toned down. No melodrama, no shocking twists, no obvious tearjerkers. Just a quiet meditation on several big themes like childhood, family and time.


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2014 sure was a damn good year for movies. When I saw Interstellar, I thought that was the movie of the year. Then I saw Grand Budapest Hotel, and that took the spot. Then the same deal with Birdman. Now I saw this movie a couple of hours ago. Hot damn, I think it might steal the place from Birdman's place. There is such beautiful humanity woven into the seams of this masterpiece, that's at once very poignant and also toned down. No melodrama, no shocking twists, no obvious tearjerkers. Just a quiet meditation on several big themes like childhood, family and time.

Agreed, it was a great year. Boyhood was great as well, but Whiplash gets my nod for movie of the year.

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