The contemporary filmic bildungsroman is one I usually dislike, a restrictive genre which produces films all too often overly quirky and self-aware in an attempt to pander to their target audience. They too frequently lean towards nostalgia, either formally or within the setting, directors preferring to connect with the childhoods of older audience members and avoiding the generation growing up now, a confusing and complicated one so different from anything that has gone before. Not only does Linklater capture the maturation of a young boy so perfectly, he does it with a lyrical simplicity that allows the film’s 164 minutes of running time to slip by naturally, unaided by gimmicks such as voiceover (used to death in order to indicate every teen’s disconnected feeling) or subtitles of the date, providing a quiet and unbroken story as the years move on.
Being Mason’s exact age, watching a childhood so close to my own, with a perfect score on metacritic, resplendent on the silver screen was incredibly moving. A film that directly connects with an individual is an unforgettable one, but this is difficult for the filmmaker to orchestrate. In making such an extensive film, Richard Linklater creates a series of moments which will undoubtedly resonate with millennials and their parents alike. Watching a real twelve years of actor Ellar Coltrane’s life, one would receive a similar effect marathoning the Harry Potter series, but never has such a vast expanse of real time been condensed so perfectly. Cultural indicators, from Gameboys to Obama’s election to Lady Gaga, instead of dating the film, allow the story and the family to feel increasingly familiar to us. By the end the viewer is left shaking their head and, like any parent, wondering 'how did he grow up so fast?’
