Oscar Movies for 2015: Boyhood
Perhaps I've seen too many Oscar nominated films in too short a time but...
Boyhood was too long and too boring in most respects for me.
The cinematography was uninspired, except for a short sequence when the boy, Mason, was eight or nine and was on a visitation weekend with his divorced dad and playing hide and seek on the grounds of a public square. The lawn was a vivid green, the limestone statutes were alive with light, and the sun shone and made all the colors brilliant. Maybe this was supposed to emphasize a special moment in the young boy's life when all was wonderful, but the rest of the film was shot in washed-out and muted coloring, as if someone had spilled some bleach in the processing room. I don't think that the film was attempting to show that the rest of the boy's life was nothing much. Why make the film if that was so?
Even the end of the film marking the end of boyhood, which was shot in the Big Bend Texas state park on the border with Mexico, was pale and lifeless. The discussion between an 18 year old Mason and a girl, whom he met on his first day away from home and at the university, in the park was about whether meaning was seizing the moment in life or whether life was just moments that passed. The image was passive and faded as if whatever moment that was seized had been throttled instead.
The movie is about an ordinary boy's life from the age of six to eighteen. The only thing that makes the film special is that it was filmed with the same actors over a period of eleven years. We actually see the characters age and change in their own bodies. There are no substitutions for a younger or older character. That is a novel and interesting concept, but I don't see it making a great movie in this respect.
The only interesting character in the movie for me was the mother played by Patricia Arquette. I put up with the rest of the movie and its too long length just to see her story. She had an existential empty nest crisis when the boy went off to college, and I got a little teary-eyed for her.
One thing that I have noticed about all these Oscar nominated movies is the predominance of males and male-centric stories. Where are the women movies? Most of these men are just not that interesting or compelling for me. Women are important and do important things too. I'd like to see those type of movies honored.
Boyhood was too long and too boring in most respects for me.
Click to viewThe cinematography was uninspired, except for a short sequence when the boy, Mason, was eight or nine and was on a visitation weekend with his divorced dad and playing hide and seek on the grounds of a public square. The lawn was a vivid green, the limestone statutes were alive with light, and the sun shone and made all the colors brilliant. Maybe this was supposed to emphasize a special moment in the young boy's life when all was wonderful, but the rest of the film was shot in washed-out and muted coloring, as if someone had spilled some bleach in the processing room. I don't think that the film was attempting to show that the rest of the boy's life was nothing much. Why make the film if that was so?
Even the end of the film marking the end of boyhood, which was shot in the Big Bend Texas state park on the border with Mexico, was pale and lifeless. The discussion between an 18 year old Mason and a girl, whom he met on his first day away from home and at the university, in the park was about whether meaning was seizing the moment in life or whether life was just moments that passed. The image was passive and faded as if whatever moment that was seized had been throttled instead.
The movie is about an ordinary boy's life from the age of six to eighteen. The only thing that makes the film special is that it was filmed with the same actors over a period of eleven years. We actually see the characters age and change in their own bodies. There are no substitutions for a younger or older character. That is a novel and interesting concept, but I don't see it making a great movie in this respect.
The only interesting character in the movie for me was the mother played by Patricia Arquette. I put up with the rest of the movie and its too long length just to see her story. She had an existential empty nest crisis when the boy went off to college, and I got a little teary-eyed for her.
One thing that I have noticed about all these Oscar nominated movies is the predominance of males and male-centric stories. Where are the women movies? Most of these men are just not that interesting or compelling for me. Women are important and do important things too. I'd like to see those type of movies honored.