Before I left for the cinema my flatmate posed me with a frankly quite honest question; why would you go and see a film where nothing actually happens? He had a point, if it was a film just looking at growing up so what would make it any more interesting than other coming-of-age films about in the big wide world? So I got a wonderin' and a worryin' and started to think that I might not enjoy it after all. If you read my post the other day about my love for the song 'Hero' by Family of the Year, you know I'm all about the trailer for this film. So it was disappointing to not feel into it anymore. Sighs.
Film starts and I'm still worrying. This feels quite slow, nothing's really happening, it's just daily routine captured on film. Maybe my flatmate was right not to waste £7 on this. He wasn't. He was wrong, and I'm here to tell you just how wrong and why you shouldn't be wrong too.
Life, in all it's mundanity, is actually pretty bloody exciting. This film reminds you (or at least it reminded me) that life is pretty damn special, and growing up is even more special, everything ever is special.
Yeah I'm being slightly over-dramatic but I'm feeling sentimental. It's hard not to when the character's experience is so relatable. Obvs my life isn't an exact match to his, I'm lucky in that respect, but as a person who grew up at roughly the same time as the character, hitting all the same milestones in the same years, it's super hard not to compare.
I totally remember lining up in a queue of super-fans all dressed up at midnight to buy the new instalment of Harry Potter, and I promise it didn't feel very monumental at the time. The film gave me a gentle nudge (perhaps a lot less than gentle) to remind me that it's the days like that, that feel like any other day, that are days shared by a whole generation. Whoa. I think that's where the beauty of the film lies.
Like my little Harry Potter anecdote, the film is littered with pop-culture references through-out the 12 years it spans. Because I grew up in these years, the references feel really personal, like little moments that unknowingly defined and mapped my youth. I believe that this is down to the film being made over it's set time span and it's ability to capture these moments in the time that they are relevant, before becoming just another homage to nostalgia.
A revolution in film itself, Linklater's concept of filming the actors grow of 12 years straddles the line between artful and gimmicky. Although it's what is used to sell us the film, rather than just the film itself, the predetermined understanding does seem to make all the difference in the viewing, blurring the line of fantasy and reality and allowing me to buy into the character's lives and relationships more than I would your average film. There was definitely an added novelty for me in that the main character looked very similar to my other flatmate, who went to see the film with me (guess he could find it even more relatable). The characters are honesty perfect, in that they're not perfect at all. There was definitely an added novelty for me in that the main character looked very similar to my flatmate. You have to adore Patricia Arquette's portrayal of a single mother, ironically providing the line 'I thought there'd be more than this', a question so many people will use to assess the film itself.
To answer my flatmate's question I conclude that; it's not a film where nothing happens, it's a film where life happens and any banality, frustration, dissatisfaction or loose end is just another part of it all.
So yeah, it's pretty clear I'm a fan, and I'm sure you'll be too. If you're wondering why I haven't yet used my usual repertoire of words like 'lush' or 'fabby', to sound like Will.I.Am himself has rapped me over a chart hit, then maybe you'll understand that I'm being serious about this guys. If that doesn't satisfy you; script: fab, soundtrack: fab, casting: fab. Now, if all my sentimental rambling hasn't excited you already, please go anyway and see this film and make your own mind up. Because I said so.
If you're still not feeling it, despite me pulling out all the ol' bells and whistles, and wonder why you've wasted your time here; there's a cat version of the Boyhood trailer. You're welcome.
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