Boyhood (2014)

Written and Directed by Richard Linklater (School of Rock)
Starring
Ethan Hawke (Gattaca)
Patricia Arquette (Holes) 
Ellar Coltrane
Lorelie Linklater

This is not a typical film. Artsy but on a purely technical scale, with a story that is nothing special and that is precisely what makes the whole thing special. Its a serious Seinfeld. A movie about nothing where the acting is excellent and the drama is generic. It plays out like a long dreadful memory.

This was more about the technical accomplishment than the story and to overlook that revolutionary accomplishment of filming though a 12 year time span would be an injustice. While I had absolutely no interest in the story whatsoever, I can't deny that it was a remarkable journey highlighting what it means to live a normal, albeit broken, life. None of the characters are, in any way, remarkable. They consistently make horrible choices. A depiction of an average life is not something you necessarily want to watch but the entire point of the movie has nothing to do with the plot. The whole thing is one long way of minimizing makeup costs and in that, it is supremely effective. 

As expected the themes it actively tries to explore quickly become redundant. I get it, beer is bad, teens and husbands can't help but be jerks, society glorifies alcohol and sex and those that don't partake are dweebs, drugs are just normal, and being kind and compassionate towards others is meaningless. Nearly three hours of compromising character in favor of trying to be deep can get a bit monotonous but the performances of Coltrane, Hawke, and Arquette are so life like that you can;t help but admire the job they do. 

To bash on the story a bit more, it never fails to fall victim to cliches. It could be a product of the ambitious scope or maybe Linklater found it revolutionary in 2002 and simply couldn't change it. When the world of the film is the same as the our own (minus Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette being famous people), which is the case in many movies, the expectations turn to story, character, and style. The visuals Linklater opts for are purely realistic. The only hint of this being more than a home video is found in the time relevant music that pops up in the background every now and then. Two Arcade Fire songs is a triumph on its own.

In shooting natural growth, it seems you have to sacrifice originality for convention and take what you can get. Common popular themes like a failed marriage, puberty, and the American dream are given a general, sweeping depiction. We see a dozen years pass by and only Ernesto and Mason Sr. see any worthwhile character change. We also see Mason Jr. develop a decent taste in music, so there's that. In the end it was a long film that went dabbled in all sorts of nothingness. Just like real American lives. Relationships. Divorce. Alcohol. Hurray!

Congratulations Richard Linklater. You've made a boringly impressive three hour Youtube clip. 

Bottom Line: While I wasn't taken in by the characters, I was still affected by the story enough to hate them and I hate everything about the characters (except, once again, Ernesto. Give that dude his own movie). Despite that, the achievement here can't be dismissed. This is an unequivocally real film and while I may relate to zero percent of it, I can't deny its relevance to modern American life. It's nowhere near the top of my list but it'll be a favorite for the Oscars. 

8 out of 10 

Predestination (2015)

Written and Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. 

Starring: 

Ethan Hawke (Gattaca)

Sarah Snook 

Noah Taylor (Game of Thrones)

Ever since I was destroyed by a little film called Gattaca, the name Ethan Hawke always stirs up a healthy reflux of anticipation. Here, that excitement is not wasted. The story the Spierig Brothers set out to tell with Predestination may be well-tread territory (not to mention an adaptation of a Heinlein short story - http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/303/heinlein_all_you_zombies.pdf ) but through deliberate pacing, a lovely smattering of weirdness, and some spectacular scope, they manage to make a distinct temporal statement that keeps you completely engaged and emotionally active. Their talent with SciFi aesthetics, as proven with the vamp tale Daybreakers, raises this movie from one that not only respectfully mimics recent Scifi triumphs like Looper, Moon, Minority Report, and About Time to one that joins their esteemed ranks. The end result is one of the best time travel movies ever made, not to mention an effective piece of mustache propaganda.  

The real victory lap of Predestination, story wise, is the forceful and simple method of time travel while firmly contained in a recent yet decidedly unfamiliar past. Even in the convolution that comes from messing with time, the story managed to hold on to a simplicity that comfortably utilizes, at times admittedly cheesy, sentiment. When the payoff is as complete as the one here is, those minor faults can be forgiven. The film's muted spectacle tries successfully to spotlight the performances. 

Dual framing devices are at play with one firmly grounded in a harrowing reality and powerfully introducing Sarah Snook to the world and the other one jumping across decades. The whole is focused on a single, dashed-line perspective that tries it's best to pull a Memento. It's an admirable attempt and one whose perspective requires patience to watch and ultimately, it works. For those who enjoy letting a movie take them on a ride, the patience put in is rewarded. The pacing is best compared to a bridge in a song, a deliberate gear shift like those found in Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out or Metallica's Fade to Black where the whole thing suddenly zones in and rockets forward. When Predestination makes that pivot, strap in. 

Propelled by remarkable performances from Snook and Hawke, the story is able to build an atmosphere that's calm but boiling. I love the way this movie is structured and that it doesn't insist on secrecy, rather it uses framing devices and expectations to allow the story to fill itself out. 

If you don't at the very least expect that certain things are at play during a time travel story, then the movie won't resonate with you as it should. The success of Predestination is that it tells a tale that is complete. 

The score is effective in enhancing any given mood from the first minute. Everything plays to one goal, one complete and satiating story that touches remarkably on the themes of identity, love, purpose, and destiny. Themes that bring to mind the Golden Age of Sci Fi literature and do justice to the source material. 

The Sci Fi elements are undoubtedly cool. An understated and simple method of time travel portrayed with intelligent editing and filming that leave a high impact resonance whenever depicted. 

Not a vehicle. Not a sphere. Not a large floating box. But a small trumpet case meant to be held close. Containing a device that it never shown. Much like the film as a whole the device is sparsely calling attention to itself yet every atom of it is essential. 

Some detractors have written of the messy nature of the movie, others call to question it's devious motives. I firmly disagree with them. I didn't find Predestination to be overly twisty. Its wasn't tediously convoluted. There's no deliberate obfuscation other than the standard components of a story with an ending. This is an independent film, sure, but its thankfully not an avant garde disaster. If you don't expect certain things to hold true under the umbrella of time travel, then the fault lies within your own bland sense of wonder (unprovoked preemptive strike!) To me this is a simple story that explores relevant themes while confidently employing Sci Fi tropes.

I found the overly reflective dialogue to be rather enjoyable. It was a contemplative exercise that, if you buy into, gets you thinking about interesting concepts. Time travel in film always brings the hop of seeing something fresh. A hope that it's more than just a romp through history. When a movie refuses to be defined by our inevitable expectations, it becomes something transcendent. A good film, let alone time travel film, alters yours perception of reality after the credits role, assuming of course, you are willing to allow your perception to be unraveled going into it.  Like how Truman Show played on our own narcissism, this attacks our very concept of destiny.

Bottom line. I wanted time travel and Ethan Hawke and was not disappointed. I can only hope we see more of Sarah Snook. The Spierig Brothers are two for two and so is 2015. 

10 out of 10.