Nobody Knows Hollywood

Director: Richard Linklater Year: 2013 Like many veteran filmmakers, Director Richard Linklater is increasingly showing his cards. He is at least deeply interested in, if not obsessed with, the role of compressed time in the visual medium. In essence, this review is part and parcel with the same idea since I watched and am reviewing Before Midnight (2013) after seeing Boyhood (2014) (and Before Sunset and Before Sunrise). It is very difficult for most people to fully recognize or value the present. We measure by looking back. Some call this nostalgia, others history. Regardless, the gift Linklater has given us in this third installment of films is the passage of time in the relationship of Jesse (Ethan Hawke), Celine (Julie Delpy). They’re now early in their 40’s. They’re now committed to each other – miles apart from the dreamy idea of courtship or discovery. Though not married, they are a couple, with twin girls to sweeten the pot. Because they are...

We begin with a young boy, Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane), staring at the clouds – what is this life all about? He seems to wonder. We finish with him, 13 years later, grown into a young man, just moved into his college dorm and immediately eschewing the conventional orientation for a walk in nature with his clearly liberated roommate and a few young coeds. The film ends with Mason Jr. looking out at nature from above with a beautiful girl by his side. He’s happy. He’s high. He’s allowing the moment to seize him rather than the other way around – if that sounds confusing, you’ll have to see the film. Boyhood is a bold film that audiences should probably have a bit of preparation for before they go in. Then again, even as I write that I think, no, they should know nothing. The duality exists in my fear that people won’t appreciate this beautiful film for what it is: an experience. It is devoid of the usual plot points and structure. It’s just life. It happens right in front of ...