839 - Boyhood (2014)

It’s weird to think of a film in the Criterion collection that took twelve years to make that doesn’t involve production delays.  I mean, who does Richard Linklater think he is?  Some sort of anti-Gilliam: casting children with the intent that they will literally mature into their roles, smoothly wrangling a crew for over a decade, adapting to the passage of time, all with a seeming sense of ease, deliberate planning, and foresight?  And then to have the sheer nerve to put all of that effort toward a non-forced, impressionistic, account of the living circumstances of just some kid and his family in Texas?  And then to be successful in this endeavor?!  Where is the humility?

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975).