Ranking Every Richard Linklater Film Worst To Best
3. Boyhood (2014)
One of Richard Linklater's best attributes has always been his use of time as a storytelling tool. Slackers, SubUrbia and Dazed and Confused all take place over one day; Jesse and Celine's romantic journey was told over three installments filmed over eighteen years. With Boyhood, Linklater crafted the film over twelve years, filming sporadically between 2001 and 2013.
Using the same cast throughout to show the passage of time in a natural, real way, Boyhood tells the story of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) during his childhood and teenage years. Linklater wanted to make a film about being a child, and with Boyhood defied expectations, crafting a deeply affecting epic in which Mason feels the fallout from his parents' (Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette) divorce and the bumps that come with growing up.
The acting is sublime, the direction seamless and impressive giving the process, and Boyhood is destined to be seen as a daring classic for years to come.