Boyhood Review (Rate: 10/10)

Boyhood Imdb.com

I will be honest and say I was very skeptical of this movie. All the fuzz about it, and they way the movie was advertised made it seem like a very overrated movie. I don't know if it was because it took 12 years to make, or because the trailer made it look like a typical boring drama movie, but I thought this movie can't possibly be as good as the critics say it is. There had to be a flaw in a production like this!
But then again, I always wondered if it was possible to use the same actors when they grow up, and have the right transition through different stages in life. It made me curios and interested.
I say: Don't be fooled by the trailers, I would re-title the movie from Boyhood to: Life The movie, or just "Growing up".

The premise of the movie is simple: It follows one family through different stages in their life, but without really having a purpose or goal. As the movie progress you start to care for these people, and the transition between the different stages are so good blended inn that it feels natural. All the characters gets their moments to shine, but you notice that the boy is the main character in this story.

Did i say story? Boyhood doesn't really have a story, but only let the audience be the observers of what is happening. We live through their relationships, break ups, wrongs and rights, but the funny thing is that it never happens the way we expect it to do. This movie clearly knows that the audience has seen too many movies, because we are waiting for the next big dramatic thing to happen, but they never really happen. Does this make the movie boring? Not at all!

The movie plays naturally on our nostalgia from the early 2000s and up until now, and is able to catch the right moments that we had forgotten about back then. If that wasn't enough it really feels like watching real life, and we figure out that life is only build up on different events that is happening. Not all the dramatic things all the other movies are selling us. The one thing the movie is able  to capture, are all the moments in life we take for granted. The moments we had forgotten about. It is able to speak to the audience, and wake up memories and thoughts that makes you say "yes, I remember my own version of this moment in my life."

So why is this movie so good? I think the movie is really good at capturing real life, where you can almost think you are watching a documentary about a real family. It is also stunning to think about that the creators of this movie where able to make such a good movie in a so long period of time. The movie shines the most when it is able to use the full potential of the movie medium. The movie is able to make an objective experience for the audience, so they can reflect and think about it after they left the theater.

I give this movie a rating 10/10 because it is able to give an experience about real life, that the audience can take with them from the theater and into their own life.


Similar movies:
IMDB: The tree of life
It is a slow movie about everything and nothing. The movie has contents that include a long no-dialogue part about how life began on earth, and about a father who is trying to raise his sons to become tough men.
Both of these movies try to tell a story about growing up through a very documentary feel of storytelling. While Boyhood tries to tell it in a strait forward and nostalgic way, The tree of life has a more artistic and depressing feel, and might not make a lot of sense for everyone.