Boyhood: A brief note

We went to see the film Boyhood last night, and I want to recommend it to readers who might otherwise overlook it in the film industry’s recurring summer of crud. It’s a movie for adults about time and love and (the modern) family. I am not familiar with writer/director Richard Linklater, but I want to mention his name here as the man without whom the film wouldn’t exist.

For whatever it’s worth, and it’s not much if I can’t find John Podhoretz among them, reviewers have warmly endorsed the film. New York Times critic Manohla Darghis describes the film well in the Times review “From baby fat to stubble: Growing up in real time.” Logan Hill has an informative sidebar feature on the film in “Casting time as a lead character.” Below is the trailer; it’s not particularly illuminating, but it gives a sense of the film.

Running nearly three hours, the film is totally absorbing from beginning to end. Indeed, I found the running time hard to believe; it seemed much shorter. Realism is the film’s mode — it used the same actors to film the story over a 12-year period — and it seems to me full of the genuine emotions of family life. I found it deeply moving.

I suppose it’s a good sign that it has generated a parody cat video that has gone viral, but I’m not sure. I hope it finds the audience it deserves for what seems to me an entertaining and, in its own compelling way, a beautiful work of art.

UPDATE: John Podhoretz weighs in on Twitter, a little too late for me to modulate my praise.

John adds this:

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