It feels like Richard Linklater’s been obsessed with people saying no to adulthood since forever. He practically invented the term Slacker for his 1991 film of that name – about 20-somethings not yet ready to get on with their lives.
Dazed And Confused (1993) is about high school kids dreading graduation. When we talked to him for our cover story (September 6, 2001, nowtoronto.com), he was at TIFF with two flicks, including Waking Life, inspired by his own high school experience.
He’s spun his preoccupation with growing up – and its consequences – into a new pic, Boyhood, which opens this week. Linklater shot the movie over 12 years to let us watch Mason (Ellar Coltrane) grow up in real time from first-grader to college entrant.
The strategy is consistent with Linklater’s famous Sunrise series of films about the changing relationship between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. And like that trio of films written on the fly via improv, Boyhood has no script and also stars Hawke as Mason’s father.
Linklater has definitely not lost his movie mojo. NOW senior film writer Norman Wilner calls Boyhood the best American movie he’s seen in years. (See review, page 52).
