Boyhood is one of the most unusual Best Picture frontrunners the Oscar race has ever had. When the film premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival last January, the analysis from the majority of Oscar pundits was, "Yeah it's good, but the Academy will never go for it." However, as the year progressed, and Boyhood remained one of the hot films of the year, the inevitability of Boyhood's rendezvous with Oscar became clear. Filmed over twelve summers to chart the actual growth of the film's star, Ellar Coltrane, Boyhood is a unique film that feels almost experimental at times. What keeps the movie from heading off too deep into avant garde territory is the universality of its story. While every individual obviously has their own unique experience of childhood, you would be hard pressed to find someone who can't relate to at least one moment in the movie, and it is this automatic connection Boyhood makes with its audience that has made it the formidable Oscar opponent that it is. Director Richard Linklater's movies, while highly regarded by many, have never been serious Oscar contenders before. This puts Boyhood in somewhat uncharted territory, making predicting its chances at winning the Best Picture prize a difficult endeavor. Particularly with the unusual progression this year's Oscar season has had, peering into the crystal ball and correctly calling this year's Best Picture race is no simple task, but as of this moment and time, Boyhood appears to have the Oscar just inches away from its grasp. How do you see this year's Best Picture race playing out? Will there be nine nominees like the previous three years, or do you expect this is the year we will see a different amount of nominees? Share your thoughts with us below in the comments section.
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.
