Review: Boyhood, starring Ellar Coltrane, filmed over 12 years

THE coming-of-life movie? Now this is something new. The achingly accurate chronicle of a child growing up over 12 years puts the film Boyhood in a class of its own.

Boyhood (M)

Director : Richard Linklater (Bernie)

Starring : Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater.

Rating : ****1/2

Growing, going, gone.

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The coming-of-age movie? We’ve all been there, and done that.

The coming-of-life movie? Now this is something new.

The background schematics ofBoyhood are what puts this remarkable American production in a genre - and perhaps even a class - all its own.

Beginning in the year 2002, the prolific director Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Bernie) would round up the same hand-picked cast at the same time each year for a few days of shooting.

When the project finally wrapped last October, Linklater had captured exactly what he was after so long ago: an achingly accurate chronicle of a child in the process of growing up.

Watching him grow ... Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood.

At this point, it should be emphasised that Boyhood is not a documentary. It is a wholly fictional take on the formative years of a typical Texas kid by the name of Mason Evans (Ellar Coltrane).

We join Mason at the age of 6, and bid him goodbye at 18.

Nothing much happens to the lad during this period. Aside from life itself. And as organically filmed by Linklater, that turns out to be really something.

The real star of the show here is time. Not only how it passes, but also the tracks it leaves in its wake.

Playing together ... Ellar Coltrane and Ethan Hawke in Boyhood.

The authentically chronological filming style of Boyhood allows us to map those tracks like never before.

Along the way, innocence is certain to be lost. Experience is all that can take its place.

Meanwhile, time is impacting on each person in its own unique way.

From scene to scene, Mason and everybody around him are getting taller, wider, smarter, dumber, richer, poorer, happier, sadder, faster, slower.

Mapping a life ... stars from the film Boyhood.

Some are learning how to love. Others are doing their best to forget all about it.

At a running time of close to 3 hours, Boyhood can be messy, unfocused and too tedious for words. Just like life.

However, Boyhood also summons many moments where the truth not only hurts, but heals as well.

For a movie, that’s a once-in-lifetime achievement.

Originally published as Review: Boyhood, starring Ellar Coltrane, filmed over 12 years