Boyhood

The terrible disadvantage of festivals is that a film that would otherwise be amazing to someone only comes off like a very solid piece, even if it is a historical endeavor. Linklater has no competition in the subtlety of observing everyday embarrassments and sorrows, nor in how simply he accentuates the beautiful burden of transience in his films. In this, Boyhood is as captivating as the "Before" trilogy. Truthfully, however, I expected him to distill even stronger emotions from the theme of adolescence and the natural transformation of characters, and an even more precise web of connections (unfortunately, some attempts to use motifs from the past feel very forced, such as the Mexican gardener character). But I will not pretend to be disappointed at all. Boyhood reveals the power of the film medium as a fictional memory and the beauty of unpretentious filmmaking language, which demands nothing by force, but rather deserves everything honestly. [80%] (12/07/2014)

This is a film I've always subconsciously wanted to see. Creative patience and the ability to capture in life exactly those fleeting moments that shape us further have produced quite possibly the most calculating film in history, but at the same time I can't imagine it could have been made one bit better. If I were a film theorist, I'd analyze it endlessly. At this point, I want to see it at least three more times. (27/07/2014)

A movie that is unique and exceptional only because of the way it was shot. Everything shown in its more than 160-minute runtime is stale (and not only because we experienced it ourselves in adolescence), likewise with some parts of the story, which, without a strong message, clumsily passes by the viewer without leaving a single even slightly significant emotional trace. My hat is off to Linklater for taking on something like this in the first place, but Boyhood lacks so many essentials, starting with more interesting character development and ending with at least one surprising "life" twist, that I'm tempted to talk about a waste of potential and creative time. My thoughts seemed to be summed up at the end by a weeping Patricia Arquette with the words: I was expecting something more... 70% (11/10/2014)

To write and shoot a three-hour film about the elusive meaning of life is something that only a creator who has already created numerous perfect conversations about it can afford. And Richard Linklater proves that in his portrayal, it is not just adulthood, relationships, and definitive maturity that are incredible, but also a hundred and one feelings of the earliest self-awareness. Sometimes on a more intense string, sometimes on a less intense one, but always from a story that we have experienced, our neighbor on the bench or a friend who flew through our lives seemingly irreversibly influencing it and was never seen again. And it is precisely here, with positive and negative paternal figures, with an omnipresent mother who never says "I love you" yet still shows her feelings countless times, that a boy can grow into something more. Maybe even a man. Maybe just an ordinary dilettante. And maybe someone who wants to reach for a little bit of their own happiness while flying through life. (20/07/2014)

A life story without a single moment to make it worthy of being filmed. We have already seen all of those life fragments elsewhere, where they were part of a higher screenwriting goal. Or we live them at home, so they’re the last thing we want to see at the cinema. Can a person with such a banal life without highs and lows, who never knew the pain of losing a loved one or fell head over heels in love, even be happy? I had been waiting for Richard Linklater to play a little with his characters’ fates, as he had been making this ultimate “life film” for 12 years. But nothing happened. And I’m saying this as someone who loves his Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight trilogy, which consciously and playfully concentrates on a specific topic and shows some development in its delivery. (23/07/2014)