"Boyhood" is a film that is worthy of careful slap after watching. Those parts that feel understatement when you watch it become mellow and long in the aftertaste, and there are many of them. The years go by, the fortunes are gone, and the aftertaste of life is full of flavors. With the far-reaching retrospect, it continues to shine with its wonderful and charming side. These are as usual when watching, and it is indeed a unique viewing experience.
The motif of this film is still the theme of time that director Richard Linklater loves. He has spent 18 years creating the "Love in" trilogy (that is, the films "Love Before Dawn", "Love Is in "At Sunset", "Love Before Midnight"), these trilogy used time to witness and baptize a long-lasting love, and finally let it fall into the bib of life. In "Boyhood", Linklater used time to record a boy's 12 years of growth, from 6 to 18 years old, from cute baby to Chang Nan, from ignorant and well-behaved to mature in mind, as if the fleeting years engraved with growth marks. Quietly slipping through the fingers quietly, wanting to remember, but unable to keep it. And just for a movie to be so persistent, so persistent, and so emotional, is enough to appear free and high in this era full of fast food culture.
Although the story of the film is long, the plot is relatively simple. Most of the plot in the film appears calm. Even when the drama conflicts between the characters are shown, the method of downplaying and weakening is adopted to make the style suitable for the overall style. Elimination, this is precisely the director's brilliance, that is, the so-called weight lifting. In comparison, many films that reflect growth problems seem to be too hard. The sexual experience and sudden death that are often involved in some youth growth films are default here.
The details of the film are very good. With the mother Olivia’s several marriages and divorces, the appearance of the boy Mason is constantly changing, and the house that is constantly being moved, as if to reproduce the life of the boy and his family in peace and ease. And trivial, let the audience not only feel the true side of life, but also feel the ruthless passing of time. Here, time shows its mild but cruel side.
In terms of narrative, the film has a long, soothing to sloppy feeling, as if it lacks a clear time point, but a little attention will reveal that it has some time divisions, such as the annual memorabilia background that is technically introduced in the film, the most prominent The growth stage is separated by the plot of the father taking the children out on an outing. The plot of the outing has appeared in the film about three times. With the different destinations of the outing, the content of the conversation is different, expressing the growth of the child and the inevitable Changes in mentality... In
addition to reappearing the changes in the learning and living conditions of the teenager Mason, the images of his parents are also quite representative. Ethan is a beautiful candidate to play such a father image. Ethan has a lot of experience. He has done a more profound representation in this respect. "Hot State", in this film Ethan personally played the role of the father who was absent from his son's growth period. In contrast, the father in "Boyhood" looks much warmer. Although this father does not live with the children, he regularly fulfills his duties as a father and is a competent playmate for the children. Friends also gave them the necessary guidance. Among them, on his son’s 15th birthday, his father gave him his own CD "beatles black album", which selected songs from the Beatles members his father liked. Older audiences might listen to it. Ups and downs.
Patricia Arquette played the role of Olivia, a mother who is constantly striving for herself and her marriage in the film. She took many professional courses and became a professor diligently. The lectures were very popular, but she was still confused about life. Life was in a turbulent way. When she was single again, moved from a big house to a small apartment, and wanted to send away her son who was going to university, she suddenly cried with emotion. She got married and divorced, moved to work with a degree, and sent The children go to junior high school, high school and college, "Then, is it my funeral? I thought there would be more, but in fact, there will be no more." Life is often stingy, and it leaves everyone with the scratches of time and Unsatisfactory and obscure.
Through the film’s delicate and practical scenes, the audience can silently appreciate the vertical changes of the years, the parallel displacement of the character’s environment, and the changes in appearance and mood. Together with the very appropriate songs, it has brought a generation of people to remember what they must have in the youth years. Of course, it also gave the necessary comfort, which is one of the important reasons for its favor. The soundtrack selected in the film adds a lot of points to the film. At the beginning, the music that accompanied the six-year-old child who was lying on his back on the lawn and looking at the sky was Coldplay's "Yellow". The appearance of this melody gave the audience's thoughts all of a sudden. The sense of erraticness, as if to enter the nostalgic channel, and then effortlessly walked into the growth process of Little Mason which lasted 12 years. As the theme song of the film, the folk song "Hero" of the Family of the Year band seems to fit the growth mood of a teenager. The melancholic style and the lyrics that do not lose personal opinions are also in line with Mason's characteristics.
The growth of a teenager is not only reflected in his height, hairstyle, and pimples that pop up from time to time. With the passing of years, after several toss and turns, the original child has transformed into an excellent photographer with a gloomy temperament and a visual talent. At the end of the film, when he and a girl were sitting on the top of a hill watching the sunset, the girl said: "Everyone keeps saying'Grasp the time' like this. I'm thinking, on the contrary, time holds us." Yes, time holds us. The streamer easily throws people away, and the little boy grows up.
(Magazine manuscript)
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