|uly30. 2014
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sportiani» (Observer
Ellar Coltrane stars in Rickard Linklater’s new film ‘Boyhood’ which charts a boy’s childhood in real time, as it is livec
PHOTO COURTESY IFC FlI.MS
Real Life Drama Capturing the soul o f growing up
by
D arleen O rtega
The concept behind Richard Linklater’s
new film, “Boyhood,” seems so obvious when
you hear it that you wonder why it has never
been done before. Filmed over 12 actual
years, the film follows the fictional story of a
boy’s childhood — ages 6 to 18 — with the
same actors playing the boy, his older sister,
and his divorced parents. Far from a gimmick,
the result, in director Linklater’s capable
hands, is a revelation. Never has a film so
poignantly captured the sweet ache of family
life, of parenting, and of the passing of child
hood.
The story is deceptively simple. It follows
the lives of Mason (Ellar Coltrane), his fre
quently annoying older sister Samantha
(Linklater’s daughter Lorelei), and their par
ents through moves, marriages, and divorces,
and the dramas, big and small, of everyday
life. And it is, quite literally, the story of
M ason’s coming-of-age.
Coming-of-age stories are nothing new.
Generally they focus on a pivotal event or a
life-changing summer. But if you think about
it, most people’s lives don’t contain that type
of dramatic arc. The changes come incremen
tally — little shifts occur in attitude and
perspective, or trust is built or lost in an
accumulation of small incidents. Kids take
risks all the time — it’s a wonder any of us
survive childhood — but most people sur
vive just fine. So, though there are moments
in this film where the audience is primed for a
major dramatic turn (particularly a scene where
a middle-school-aged Mason is drinking with
his friends and there are weapons around),
those moments mostly play out in the same
understated way that most people’s lives do.
You don’t miss that movie-dramatic arc either
— this story makes you care, and wonder, like
you would in real life.
It strikes me that Linklater’s method may
have yielded a sort of spiritual process for
capturing the soul of growing up. He started
with the outlines of a story and with two
carefully chosen kids, and when filming be
gan there wasn’t a complete script. Instead,
Linklater checked in with Coltrane and the
rest of the cast each year, assessed where
Coltrane was emotionally and experientially,
and then wrote the screenplay for that seg
ment, informed by the truth of the cast’s own
lives. The physical and emotional develop-
continued
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