There's no one else in the world who works like Richard Linklater. His most famous movies are probably the Before trilogy, these Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy romcoms are a generational work in themselves, with the first released in 1995 and the third in 2013. That's an eighteen-year span that takes our leads from young adults to bordering middle age. For most directors that would be a life's work but Linklater isn't most directors.
Not one to shy away from investing years into a story, Boyhood was filmed by Linklater over 12 actual years, with characters ageing as cast members did in real life. Getting 12 years of life down to two and a half hours is no mean feat and you should head over to Amazon Prime Video right now to savour it.
As the name suggests this is a movie all about growing up. The titular boy in question is Mason Evans (played for all 12 years by Ellar Coltrane) who we follow from age 6 to 18. Growing up as a child of divorce Mason and his sister Samantha, (Linklater's own daughter Lorelei) spend their time mainly with their mother (a superb Patricia Arquette) but also go on regular days out with dad (Ethan Hawke).
Anyone who has been a child (hint: all of us) can relate to the early years of the movie but it is as Mason approaches his teenage years that things become tricky both at school and at home.
Aside from a few basic plot points and the ending, Linklater didn't really have much of a script for this project and instead regularly consulted with the cast on their own life experiences and incorporated them. Nothing about the filmmaking process for this movie was ordinary, so of course the result is an extraordinarily detailed and moving movie.
Critics love Boyhood too. Not only does it have a staggering 97% on Rotten Tomatoes but it is also the highest-reviewed film on Metacritic of all time.
Prime Video may have just added ads to the service but if it keeps getting quality titles like this, it will still have to be considered one of the best streaming services.
