Counting Down The Fourteen Best Films Of 2014
In this totally subjective game of lists, there can only be one winner.
#3: Boyhood, dir. Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood authentically represents the passage of time in a way other films can only simulate. It’s amazing to ponder that this cast was getting together every summer to commit wonderful performances to celluloid that nobody would see until this year. Patricia Arquette is especially good as a woman yearning to be someone other than a wife and mother.
The result is as magical to watch as the best stage illusions: masterfully performed and designed to fill its audiences with awe and delight. It mimics the way we construct our memories, and it captures how elastic time can subjectively feel. It runs for nearly three hours, but it doesn’t feel long. I was completely absorbed. Ultimately, Boyhood’s achievement is to bring cinema closer to lived experience than any special effect can achieve.