IMDb #200 Review: Boyhood (2014)

Source: Wikipedia

Twelve years flit by in the amount of time it feels like to live through it. A middle-class American boy ages in real time from preschool to highschool to college age.

But not just him--his divorced parents grow older, wiser, sadder. His big sister orbits his life like the sassy multicolored moon to a brooding cloud-covered planet. Yes, Mason's a low-key kid. He likes books, sucks at bowling, and would rather discuss art than personal feelings.

Pop culture moves on too. Dragon Ball Z and Tamogotchi grows into Halo and Harry Potter, then Twilight and the Nintendo Wii. Message for the millennial generation: pack your bags, we're going on a nostalgia trip.

The kid flirts with dreams and dumps them for newer, brighter ones. He does the same for girls. They reciprocate the favor.

But dreams (and girls) come with a price tag, so he suffers through crappy jobs to afford them.

Meanwhile, his perpetually frazzled mother pursues education. His wild father pursues a relationship with his kids. While his peers introduce him to Internet porn and beer, his mother's godawful taste in men introduces him to various manifestations of terrible parenting.

Actually, just about every adult has glaring flaws. They all have different unrealistic expectations of Mason, which they freely vocalize. He nods along and does whatever the hell he wants. Good on ya, kiddo.

Meanwhile, the writer-director's ear for dialogue rings true once again. Richard Linklater captures people talking, the casual crassness and homespun humor, the verbal tics and vocalized pauses. Combined with the understated direction, it's as absorbing and invisibly choreographed as real life.

What's it all mean? Live in the moment. Enjoy it, if you can. Because when the moment's passed it might take a sentimental arthouse film might to show how you did it all wrong and you can't go back.

165 minutes.

IMDb ??? Review: Before Sunset (2007)

Source: Wikipedia

Eighty minutes of conversation.

Two people talk for well over an hour. And I adored every minute.

Whoa.

A writer at a book signing in Paris reunites with the woman who inspired his runaway bestseller. Before he has to catch his plane, they catch up, walking and talking around picturesque Paris as the sun slowly sets, along with any likelihood of them ever meeting again.

The dialogue sparkles in shameless realness–sometimes choppy and awkward, then smooth and relaxed and funny again. It’s a lot of fun to watch. The topic wanders as much as the characters do: from bookshop to café to alley to ferry to taxi, from books to music to philanthropy to sex. (Yes, as grown-ups, they’re going to discuss the dirty deed. Frankly.)

These two can talk to each other about anything, and they do. I envy that feeling, even in my stable monogamous relationship with my word processor -- we’re currently floundering in the post-honeymoon phase, no longer able to impress each other but still attempting to regardless of results.

Back to the movie.

It’s an anti-romantic nuke. Despite the romantic subject matter (reunion of separated lovers), in the most romantic city in the world (Paris). It smacks of cold, hard reality, like a suicide jumper kissing the asphalt at terminal velocity.

Spoiler alert: the ending’s implications support my aforementioned suspicions about Parisian culture. (Infidelity. Everywhere.)

Recommended for hopeful romantics looking for love, hopeless romantics who found love and want out, and socially crippled rom-com characters who direly need lessons in the most rudimentary interpersonal communication.

80 minutes.

IMDb #212 Review: Before Sunrise (1995)

Source: Wikipedia

Two strangers futz around in nineties Vienna. Cue sunrise, roll credits. Because it's art, dammit.

Wait, where are you going? Just because it’s art doesn’t mean it’s bizarre and unapproachable!

Here: an American tourist and a French college student meet on a European train and chat. For hours. About whatever. In English, mostly, amid Austria’s linguistic cornucopia.

Then they take a break and walk around and do stuff, whatever they find. Yes, this refreshingly candid romance doubles as a documentary about improvising a piss-cheap Vienna day trip, which may or may not involve bamboozling bartenders into forking over free booze.

So they talk. They visit a cemetery for the nameless dead. They sip wine in the summer moonlight. They laugh. They talk some more.

This romance doesn’t exemplify “love at first sight” so much as transparency. Minutes after meeting, these two can exchange intimate childhood memories.

As their relationship barrels onward like a runaway train, they say, “This is going really fast.” To dispel awkwardness, they say, “This is awkward.” When the conversation sours, they say, “Let’s talk about something else,” and once again rehash how girls and boys are different. As morning approaches, they acknowledge the need to say goodbyes–so they practice.

Dialogue in movies often feels too polished. This one incorporates pauses, repetition, filler words, the works. Even though somebody probably calculated every inflection, the results sparkle with raw charm. Even the idle philosophical speculation is charming, devoid of pretentiousness.

Sure, knowing there's sequels detracts from the bittersweet tone. And replaces it with unfettered joy.