Genre Guesstimation – Boyhood (2014) – Encore Review

Since all of us movie fans are less than a week from the biggest night of the year, I decided to rewatch a few of the Best Picture Nominees in order to try and get a clearer idea in my mind of which movie (of the 8 nominees) I believe truly is the best of 2014.

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The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s Genre was chosen by Justine of Justine’s Movie Blog and she chose Coming of Age Films as the Genre for February.  If you want to still submit a movie, the deadline is 22 Feb. Just send it to me at COA@movierob.net

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Coming of Age movies…

“You know how everyone’s always saying seize the moment? I don’t know, I’m kind of thinking it’s the other way around, you know, like the moment seizes us. ” – Nicole

Number of Times Seen – 2 (24 Aug 2014 and 16 Feb 2015)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – A simple story about 12 years in the life of a young boy from his early life through his graduation from high school.

My Take on it – I must admit that after I saw this the first time I was pretty much unimpressed with the finished product. I had yet to see the ‘Before’ trilogy and didn’t understand the draw of watching a kid literally grow up before our eyes on the screen.

Having rewatched it, I can appreciate more what Linklater was trying to achieve but it still leaves me feeling thst had the story had a grander point, it could have been a spectacular moviewatching experience.

Linklater is great as creating conversations for his characters but it felt more forced here than in any of the ‘Before’ movies. Perhaps this is due to the actors or the ad hoc writing, but it didn’t flow as well as it should have.

Last week, Reut of Sweetarchive wrote this article tearing this movie apart for The IPC’s Winter Shitfest and I then (and still now) agree with many of her points. Great job, Reut – כל הכבוד!!!

Yes, it felt long at points and it just tried too hard to try and get us interested, but Linklater has given rise to a new and unique form of film making that can perhaps help others achieve even greater success than he has if they have a better structured storyline.

Movies like this need a WOW factor to raise us up but this movie lacks that feeling which hurts it after we all sit thru 165 minutes expecting it to happen.

The concept is genius, but falls a bit too short and doesn’t hit the mark.

When all is said and done, Birdman (2014) is a better and more groundbreaking film.

Bottom Line – Very interesting and innovative kind of filmmaking but it’s still missing a real point in the end that keeps it from being spectacular. Linklater should be commended on his vision, but it feels too much like a documentary than a life changing story. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Christopher Nolan revealed this film was his favorite of 2014, despite himself directing “Interstellar (2014)” the same year, a film which has been voted by many as the best film of 2014. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Sorry, nope. As interesting as parts of this movie are, it truly meanders along too much to warrant wanting to see this over and over.

Rating – Globe Worthy (no change from original review)

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