MovieChat Forums > Ellar Coltrane Discussion > I have been watching BoyHood over the la...

I have been watching BoyHood over the last couple nights...

posted 10 years ago by krme
1 reply | jump to latest

...and I have really come to admire his skill as an actor. I think about how hard it must have been for him to "act" like he was living his everyday life. For example; when his stepdad starts to become abusive due to his alcoholism. He couldn't be dramatic and "act" like the whole world was falling apart, even though, in many ways, for his character Mason it was. About the only time he gets is a few seconds of a tight focus camera on his facial expression. In that time Ellar has to convey all the emotions that Mason is probably feeling, but is really powerless to change. Imagine Ellar trying to convey Mason's feelings about losing his two "siblings" that he loves and are his friends in a two minute scene. He acted out what most everyday boys would do; he went with his mom, went to his new school, and tried to carry on. What I have not seen yet is if this will effect Mason in the future.

What I find fascinating is that this movie was actually filmed during Ellar's own growing up years. The bold directing decision to keep the same set of actors and use them as the years passed was brilliant. To my knowledge this has never been tried in films before. I enjoyed watching him change and grow as the movie progresses. I actually came to IMDB to see if it really was the same actors. So far I am really impressed, and the film is definitely living up to its advertising.

This post is getting too long or I would describe what an incredible job of acting Patricia Arquette has done so far as well.

[–] Goughrew 10 years ago

Well said. Boyhood is one of those movies that gets better the more you watch it.

The first time I saw it, I felt it was a decent movie, but I thought it only got its acclaim because of the "gimmick." However, after watching it five or six times (maybe more, but I usually start watching at different times) I really began to appreciate it and the performances.

At first, I only thought Ethan Hawke gave a great performance, but now I like almost all of them.

I really think Parella deserved more praise for his performance. He really did seem like everybody's uncle, dad, step dad, friends dad, etc.--until he went alcoholic, then he reminded some people of somebody they knew.

Again, I agree with the OP. The brilliance of Boyhood is in the way the actors never took the roles to an overtly dramatic performance (if that makes sense). They're all obviously acting, but they really seem like they're people being recorded in their everyday lives.

Linklater's daughter is the only questionable performance--but only in her older years. When she was really young, she was good. I heard that overtime, she became disinterested with the movie--maybe that explains it.

Overall, excellent movie...and not only because of the "novelty."