Opinion Piece- Was I wrong about Boyhood?
Believe it or not, the idea that I might have been wrong about Boyhood is one that has been playing on my mind ever since I saw it. The film was a critical darling and got nominated for pretty much every Oscar (although thankfully didn't win most of them aside from the worthy Patricia Arquette) but when I saw it, I just simply didn't get it. But the question that I'm going to (try to) answer here is basically who was right here: me, the local, unpaid ponce or a jury of old, white Americans. This'll be fun.
So let's recap what I said first. When I reviewed Boyhood, I said "Unquestionably, Boyhood is a film for middle class, white Americans and this means it will clear up at the Oscars. Does it deserve all this praise? Not entirely. It's a decent film that everyone has elevated because of how it was filmed. It's not a must see film, in fact, it's just a decent film. Patricia Arquette will do well for her performance but other than that, Boyhood shouldn't be winning as many awards as it is." In short, I described the film as decent but overpraised and one that was only so acclaimed because it was filmed over 12 years. And do I still stand by that? Well, yeah, basically.
I do want to preface this bit by saying that film, as a medium, is art and therefore totally subjective so really no one is right but I'm going to try and be at least a little bit objective. The film is one that is technically well made and even the most cynical reviewers (myself included) had to acknowledge that. There are plenty of lovely shots all over the film and the acting is really great aside from the kids. It's a film that had every piece in play to be a great film but it was clearly let down in my mind. But by what? By the expectation that came with the film. I went into this film expecting to see a masterpiece. I got something mediocre. Perhaps if there had been no expectation going in, I could have enjoyed the film on it's own. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and that's kind of the fault of the film market for hyping it to oblivion.
To summarise this shorter than average post (look, it was a busy week, I didn't have time for anything long but do go see The Gift, Inside Out and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation if you get the chance and don't go see Fant4stic) everyone was wrong but we were all right. I was wrong because I couldn't see past the hype and enjoy the film for what it was. The film industry was wrong for building up hype behind this film. But we were both right because everyone gets an opinion. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the most pretentious and politically correct ending I've ever written. I'm sorry.
So let's recap what I said first. When I reviewed Boyhood, I said "Unquestionably, Boyhood is a film for middle class, white Americans and this means it will clear up at the Oscars. Does it deserve all this praise? Not entirely. It's a decent film that everyone has elevated because of how it was filmed. It's not a must see film, in fact, it's just a decent film. Patricia Arquette will do well for her performance but other than that, Boyhood shouldn't be winning as many awards as it is." In short, I described the film as decent but overpraised and one that was only so acclaimed because it was filmed over 12 years. And do I still stand by that? Well, yeah, basically.
I do want to preface this bit by saying that film, as a medium, is art and therefore totally subjective so really no one is right but I'm going to try and be at least a little bit objective. The film is one that is technically well made and even the most cynical reviewers (myself included) had to acknowledge that. There are plenty of lovely shots all over the film and the acting is really great aside from the kids. It's a film that had every piece in play to be a great film but it was clearly let down in my mind. But by what? By the expectation that came with the film. I went into this film expecting to see a masterpiece. I got something mediocre. Perhaps if there had been no expectation going in, I could have enjoyed the film on it's own. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and that's kind of the fault of the film market for hyping it to oblivion.
To summarise this shorter than average post (look, it was a busy week, I didn't have time for anything long but do go see The Gift, Inside Out and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation if you get the chance and don't go see Fant4stic) everyone was wrong but we were all right. I was wrong because I couldn't see past the hype and enjoy the film for what it was. The film industry was wrong for building up hype behind this film. But we were both right because everyone gets an opinion. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the most pretentious and politically correct ending I've ever written. I'm sorry.
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