Why You Should Watch Boyhood, Even if You Missed it in Theatres

Even in a time when new movies are produced faster than the public can devour them, it would be impossible for a film like Boyhood to pass by unnoticed. In 2002, director Richard Linklater audaciously began a project that would last the next 12 years, filming with the same cast and crew for a few weeks each summer. Linklater chose 6-year-old Ellar Coltrane to play his main character, Mason, with only a loose idea of his evolution in the film and no concept of how he would develop offscreen. Linklater’s daughter, Lorelei, plays Mason’s sister (Samantha), and Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette are their divorced parents (Mason Sr. and Olivia). In essence, the resulting story is of a boy growing up, but more than that, the film is a lens through which we can view our own complex lives.