About a week ago, director Joe Russo (who, along with his brother Anthony, has helmed many of the biggest films for the MCU) sent out a tweet about how “Worst of the Year” lists need to stop.
“You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to make even a bad movie — and the filmmakers have already suffered through negative reviews and audience feedback.
Focus year-end lists on movies you loved, not the ones you hated.”
Despite being responsible for The Electric State earlier this year (which, spoiler, will be on my worst of list), he does have a point: making movies is harder than we probably know. A lot can go wrong, and the work of countless artists may not even see the light of day (or the dark of a theater). If we consider how a great movie being made is a miracle by overcoming obstacles, then you may be able to understand why no other film this century has struck a chord with me more than 2014’s Boyhood.
A lot of films take time to make, but few do so with this intention. For those who have not even heard of the film, Boyhood is the coming-of-age story of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) as he grows up from Elementary School age to the start of his first year of college. For this, director Richard Linklater filmed Coltrane and the supporting cast (including his daughter Lorelai as Mason’s older sister Samantha, Patricia Arquette in an Oscar-winning role as Mason’s mom Olivia, and Ethan Hawke as his dad in one of his truly best performances) a little bit every year from 2002-2013, and simply stitched it all together.
So much could have gone wrong with the film: Lorelai could have been bored at some point and lost interest (which apparently happened). An actor could have passed unexpectedly (had Linklater passed during this time, Hawke was reportedly to have taken over if that had happened), past reels could have been lost, etc.
The first time watching it, I realized a lot of the little things that brought me back to the time period. The mini 20 questions game being played at the restaurant (a big thing for my little brothers), The High School Musical craze (also big for my little brother), popular needle drops, discussions of other movies of the time (The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder), and on and on I could go.
Only on multiple viewings did I realize that what makes this film a true milestone is how unconventional Mason’s life milestones are that we see. True, we see the midnight release of the latest Harry Potter book and outings with his dad (which give him sound life advice). Yet when we see life with Mason’s soon-to-be stepdad (Marco Perella), we never see the wedding. There is a moment later in the film when Olivia has some of her college students over, and one of them talks with Mason. He mentions he was at a camp this past summer. Another film may be interested in showing us his time at this camp, but not here. This is a film about the minor moments of life that seize us, even if we are at risk of forgetting them down the line.
This was my first true introduction to Linklater as a director (even though I had previously seen The School of Rock). It was not until after this that I would discover his Before trilogy (possibly the best unseen trilogy in cinematic history), when I learned how truly patient a filmmaker he is. He is even in production of a twenty-year-long project of Merrily We Roll Along (with Paul Mescal) that is set to be done by the end of the 2030s.
Here is hoping that the project comes to fruition, since life does not give us bumpers.
(As of this writing, Boyhood is available on Hulu, Kanopy, Criterion Channel, and able to rent on VOD).
Nothing else to say 