Linklater, the philosopher of 21st Century filmmakers, first came onto the cinematic scene in 1991 with Slacker. Since then, Linklater has continued to prove himself to be a fearless experimentalist, playing with the notion of time and space in film with his Before trilogy and utilizing rotoscope technology to achieve the surreal, dream like effect of his film Waking Life. While not all Linklater's films are successful, for die hard cineastes, Linklater is a director whose work has demanded attention for some time. With Boyhood, a film Linklater made over twelve summers in order to literally document the growth of a child on film in a fictional narrative, even those who found Linklater's previous work too intellectual to emotionally connect with are singing his praises. The universality of the events depicted in the film are hard not to relate to and for many, Linklater has achieved his magnum opus with this film. Whether it is staring up into the sky as a young child, having a memorable moment with a parent, or going off to college for the first time, Boyhood is chock-full of scenes that get to the very heart of the human experience. Interestingly, Linklater still manages to fit in some random philosophical musings that are so common in many of his other movies, clearly identifying Boyhood as a Linklater film for those devotees of his previous work. The result is a mix of both the common and the artistic and the consequence for Linklater is that he will finally be an Oscar nominee. The real question for Linklater though will not be if he can receive his first Oscar nomination (that is a forgone conclusion at this point), but whether he will win the Oscar on his first time out. The race is definitely going to come down to either Innaritu or Linklater, but which one it will be may come down to the final moments. Regardless of who wins though, Linklater's Boyhood has made an undeniably significant impact on cinema. Who do you think will make this year's Best Director lineup? Are these five directors the ones to beat or do you think someone else will slip into the final field? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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.
