Boyhood
Under microscope from age 5 to 18, Mason (Ellar Coltrane), an average boy growing up in America provides the mirror for which we see ourselves, for better for worse, honest and unforgiving. Raised by his separated parents (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) and paraded past a handful of bad choices in step parenting. Forging his own world view, finding love and losing it, Mason’s experiences are all his own but totally relatable, sometimes painful and introspective, moving all the while.
Written and Directed by Richard Linklater, Boyhood is in fact a masterpiece, 12 years in the making using the same cast. More than your average film, Boyhood provides an “experience” that will force you to examine your own life choices, reminisce on your own upbringing, and give pause to the wonder and the meaning of it all. If there’s one film you should watch this summer, this is it; don’t let this life story pass you by as fast as you may have already let your own. Boyhood is rated R.