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Boyhood - 3/4
Watching this years after the hype had died down gave me a chance to see this for what it was - a brilliantly achieved experiment in film making with some excellent observations and insights into human interactions that Richard Linklater has made his signature. The time spent, the dedication to the project and overcoming or avoiding the obstacles that a production period of 15 years must have presented is an achievement so singularly impressive and unlikely to be repeated in fiction that it has to be respected and admired. The only comparable thing I can think of is the far longer running "7 and Up" documentary series by Michael Apted now running into it's 60-something year.
With all of that said I found the plot itself to be extremely bleak in parts and far too middle of the road in others to balance the tone. Not a particularly happy film nor did I think Patricia Arquette deserved an Oscar for it. No actor in the film was particularly impressive but I did like the two children that grow up in front of you, that was beautiful and the main reason people were so overwhelmed by it.
Dazed And Confused is still his magnum opus, followed immediately by A Scanner Darkly.
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