Most people will know Richard Linklater as the person that had cast a 6 year old boy to play the title character of his film Boyhood. Linklater has given memorable films, all that come, with his stamp of creativity. Boyhood, as a film, made history; spanning for 12 years; showing the characters grow on screen; life.
Like in his previous films, his idiosyncrasies were observed in Boyhood too. They are quite visible, when one picks up to watch each and every movie he directed or wrote for that matter. It would not be insane to say that the reason Boyhood has a humanist feel to it is because of it being loosely structured. The arbitrariness of the whole film is what makes it even more so realistic as the time passes.
Linklater has done this many a times; used the same actors in a film over a widened period of years. This was first observed in the Before... trilogy wherein there was a 9 year gap between each movie. Boyhood took 12 years to be completed. That really needs patience, but the audience sees the characters grow on screen, just like they do. And that does make it mesmerizing to the viewer.
Most of his films including the Before... trilogy and Slacker, take place in a short period of time; possibly hours or a day; this narrative approach of his, has become quite common now. And what's more peculiar is that, all that happens in that period of time is just traveling and constant discussion over things like art, politics etc. and all that doesn't add much to the plot line, honestly. It wouldn't exactly be spoiling when it would be summarized, that in all the three films in the Before... trilogy, the main characters, mostly walk around and talk.
Linklater's first film, It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, is significant in the sense that it establishes his style of work. His style of making the least possible camera movements, the theme of moving around with no particular 'direction' in mind and the lack of narrative, was first observed in this and from there on, in most of them.
These idiosyncrasies of his direction do really prove to be attractive as the viewers see the effects of the passage of time and suburban culture coupled with it. That way he does prove to be a natural humanist director. So when he makes a movie which has all these elements in it, he does not just make a movie but rather a memory; a secret of the characters and the viewers only. But the lack of narrative in most of them is a drawback, which proves that even though his films are like memories, they do not really 'stick on'.
When watching Boyhood, one would not really get engaged in the film totally, it's the wonder of seeing him (the character) grow is what makes one cope with it till the end. It's the same with the Before... trilogy and It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, wherein even if one skips a few minutes it would not really mean to be a loss. Thus it is that easy to watch his films even though they are not that engaging. The fact that they are easy (comforting and random) is what makes them universal and therefore a kind of modern-classic body of work.
It would really be intriguing if he would make use of his realistic and humanist approach to make a film that will be forever stuck in the memory for its execution of passage of time with it's appealing plot.
Like in his previous films, his idiosyncrasies were observed in Boyhood too. They are quite visible, when one picks up to watch each and every movie he directed or wrote for that matter. It would not be insane to say that the reason Boyhood has a humanist feel to it is because of it being loosely structured. The arbitrariness of the whole film is what makes it even more so realistic as the time passes.
Linklater has done this many a times; used the same actors in a film over a widened period of years. This was first observed in the Before... trilogy wherein there was a 9 year gap between each movie. Boyhood took 12 years to be completed. That really needs patience, but the audience sees the characters grow on screen, just like they do. And that does make it mesmerizing to the viewer.
Most of his films including the Before... trilogy and Slacker, take place in a short period of time; possibly hours or a day; this narrative approach of his, has become quite common now. And what's more peculiar is that, all that happens in that period of time is just traveling and constant discussion over things like art, politics etc. and all that doesn't add much to the plot line, honestly. It wouldn't exactly be spoiling when it would be summarized, that in all the three films in the Before... trilogy, the main characters, mostly walk around and talk.
Linklater's first film, It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, is significant in the sense that it establishes his style of work. His style of making the least possible camera movements, the theme of moving around with no particular 'direction' in mind and the lack of narrative, was first observed in this and from there on, in most of them.
These idiosyncrasies of his direction do really prove to be attractive as the viewers see the effects of the passage of time and suburban culture coupled with it. That way he does prove to be a natural humanist director. So when he makes a movie which has all these elements in it, he does not just make a movie but rather a memory; a secret of the characters and the viewers only. But the lack of narrative in most of them is a drawback, which proves that even though his films are like memories, they do not really 'stick on'.
When watching Boyhood, one would not really get engaged in the film totally, it's the wonder of seeing him (the character) grow is what makes one cope with it till the end. It's the same with the Before... trilogy and It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, wherein even if one skips a few minutes it would not really mean to be a loss. Thus it is that easy to watch his films even though they are not that engaging. The fact that they are easy (comforting and random) is what makes them universal and therefore a kind of modern-classic body of work.
It would really be intriguing if he would make use of his realistic and humanist approach to make a film that will be forever stuck in the memory for its execution of passage of time with it's appealing plot.
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