Boyhood
Dir. Richard Linklater
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For most of his career, Richard Linklater has tried to find the profound in the mundane - whether through the aimless conversations in his debut feature Slacker or the ponderous romance in his 'Before Sunrise' trilogy. Boyhood, a 12-years-in-the-making coming-of-age story, is by far his most ambitious effort yet (and perhaps one of the most ambitious ever in cinema), and though it's a 3-hour "epic" that literally encapsulates a dozen years of a boy's life, still captures that quiet, shiftless quality that's been a cornerstone of Linklater's best works. Having access to his actors for a year at a time (taking a break between each shooting period), it's fascinating to watch not only the boy grow up (Ellar Coltrane), along with his parents and sibling (played by Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, and Lorelei Linklater, respectively), but to see a slight shift in Linklater's own direction as the years go on. On a technical level Boyhood is mesmerizing, and the fact that the film not only works as a movie, but is actually able to elicit emotions, is somewhat of a miracle. It's undoubtedly a groundbreaking achievement, but I do think if it weren't for its "gimmick," critics wouldn't necessarily be foaming at the mouth for this one.
Having grown up around the same era as Ellar, I had some bursts of nostalgia throughout the film. Linklater, who may or may not have psychic abilities, managed to make Boyhood a time capsule, incorporating major cultural and political events into the story (the inclusion of Harry Potter was brilliant, seeing as both that property and this film both track through a boy's journey to adulthood). Although its runtime is sure to wear on your hind quarters, it moves at a brisk pace, another minor miracle seeing as it has no strict narrative to speak of, just a series of slice-of-life scenes. What I was most afraid of going into this movie was that the "growing up" portions would be jarring (like cutting from a kid to a dude with a beard, with a title card saying: 'Three Years Later'), but the film's gradual and natural pacing is perfect and that's never a problem.
For all the great things being said about this movie though, I did have some problems with it. First off, the themes here, although they don't not work, are broad to a fault and I think the film tries too hard to act as a proxy for everybody's childhood. The film doesn't exactly say anything new about what it's like to come-of-age, and in a period where we've seen so many of these types of movies (Mud, The Way Way Back, The Spectacular Now, etc), this one unfortunately fell a little flat for me. The best part of the film to me wasn't even the kids, rather the adults as seen from the kids' perspective (I especially loved the arc of Ethan Hawkes' "dad-on-weekends" character). But while the movie itself maybe wasn't the best coming-of-age story ever, its technical merits, performances, and sheer ambition more than make up for it. If Linklater doesn't win 'Best Director' come Oscar season for this, there's something very wrong in this world.
Rating: A-
Lucy
Dir. Luc Besson
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Luc Besson brought us a number of great, iconic action flicks in the 90's (The Professional, La Femme Nikita), but hasn't exactly been on the ball since then. With Lucy he goes back to his roots of casting strong female leads; Scarlett Johansson plays a woman who through a series of unfortunate events falls victim to a vicious chinese mafia led by Oldboy himself, Mik-sik Choi, who plants a blue drug (no, not Walter White's product) in her stomach called CPH4, which inadvertently causes her brain capacity to slowly increase from the normal human percentage, around 10%, to a full 100% brain capacity, which according to professor of physics and/or philosophy Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman), will enable her to basically gain superhuman powers like telekinesis. While the plot is filled to the brim with logic gaps, and the extent of Johansson's powers make little to no sense, Besson infuses the film with so much crazy, hyper-kinetic energy that it's still thrilling to watch. Johansson proves once again to be the premiere gal for badass/detatched women (Captain America 2, Under the Skin), and her performance, along with Besson's insanity, make this ridiculous film into a strange, campy b-movie - basically the "fun" version of Transcendence.
Rating: B-
Wish I Was Here
Dir. Zach Braff
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Having gone through the whole "college filmmaking" world, I've experienced that the hot new thing to raise money for student films has been Kickstater, a website that allows people to pay an indiscriminate amount of money to help fund the cost of a film (or other creative project); the greater the donation, the greater the "reward" for the donater ($5 for a nice note, $10 for the note and a copy of the movie, etc). Zach Braff, from TV's Scrubs and director of Garden State, raised much controversy when he decided to crowdsource his next film, Wish I Was Here, on the website. Because it's usually a tool reserved for up-and-comers, and Zach Braff is pretty much rich, there was an outcry from some film fans claiming that this was an abuse of power on Braff's part. But that didn't stop him from reaching his $2 million goal in 3 days. So after all this, it's no wonder why critics, for the most part, have come down so hard on this movie, going in with their pre-conceived notions - but I honestly found Wish I Was Here to be a charming, emotional, maybe a little cheesy, but solid coming-of-age story told with a sincere vision.
Aiden Bloom (Braff) is an actor struggling to find work, while his wife Sarah (Kate Hudson) is the "breadwinner" of the family. When his father (Mandy Patinkin) tells him that he's dying of cancer, his world starts to unravel and he has to re-examine his direction in life, and his position as a father, son, and husband. While this isn't exactly the most original coming-of-age story ever committed to screen, and there are some cringeworthy attempts at pathos (when his rabbi tells him "God can be whoever you want him to be," I was reminded of the worst scene in Man of Steel when Superman seeks advice from a priest), the actors were all in top form and totally sold me on the emotion of the piece. Especially Patinkin, whose inevitable slow decline was particularly powerful. Even the kids (played by White House Down/Fargo's Joey King and Looper's Pierce Gagnon) were very believable, even if they were shrill and annoying at times - hey, that's what kids are.
Braff, though has a stigma against him, is a solid director, who manages to take this been-there-done-that idea and make it feel personal and visually interesting (one moment involving a jar filled with contact lenses was particularly cool). I'm not sure why there's a huge backlash against the film, but I enjoyed Wish I Was Here despite its over-sentimentality/quirkiness.
Rating: B
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