You have to hand it to Richard Linklater, the man likes to push the boundaries of cinema. Whether it be his surrealist, genre-defying take on lucid dreaming in Waking Life, or his decades-spanning tale of love in his Before trilogy, or now the 12-years-in-the-making Boyhood, the director isn't afraid to totally obliterate the conventions of cinema in order to obtain some greater truth. Boyhood, which first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this January, tells the story of one boy's life, from the age of 7 to the age of 18. The film was made during the summer months from 2002 through 2013 and the effect of watching a boy literally grow up before your eyes is quite startling. Like most Linklater films, there are a number of fascinating philosophical conversations between characters about contemporary society, as well as some very heartwarming moments. Particularly in the scenes between Ethan Hawke and Ellar Coltrane (father and son), we are made privy to some very memorable bonding moments. The film doesn't totally overcome the "stunt" aspect of its premise, but even so, there are simply too many good scenes in Boyhood for the Academy to not give it some consideration.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
