A film such as this certainly needs to be respected. But it also really helps that this film is actually amazing, and isn't just a gimmick. It's so clear everyone involved gave it their all and put their heart and soul into it, and it pays off.

Boyhood is essentially a collection of little moments in one boys life as he grows up. We see every aspect of life here. Happy, sad, touching, funny. It really just shows how little moments in our lives when were growing up really make up who we are. As somebody who is pretty much the same age as the main actor is now, I found the film to be easy to relate to. I was seeing a boy growing up in the same way I did, and it was unlike any film experience I have had before. Many of the themes and events also resonated with me and allowed me to connect with it. It really encapsulates the feelings I had growing up.

The performances in here were great. I found Ethan Hawke to be particularly amazing, but everyone else is great too. Patricia Arquette really embodies the mother so well, and Ellar Coltrane certainly grows into his role more and more. He isn't perfect, but he works, and that's all you can ask for an actor who started the film when he was 7. It's also a fairly visually striking film, which is nice to see. It embraces the changing time periods really well and I liked how Linklater decided to show a lot of products that were popular during that time and use music that was big in those years too. It helps you remember what it was like during that specific time. Each time period of the kids life feels unique, and it's so incredible to see it progress. It uses the 2 hour and 45 minute run time to its fullest, and it lets important moments play out.

Boyhood is a film about growing up and life that tackles the hard issues and general feelings of confusion that comes with life, but overall leaves you on an uplifting note. It captures the realism well, and will really give you an unforgettable film experience.

Richard Linklater's Boyhood filmed over the span of 12 years featuring the life of young Mason (and to a lesser extent, his sister) from boyhood until the verge of adulthood. His parents are divorced, his dad comes to see them at some weekends, they move house, sometimes forcibly as one of the step-dad's turns out to be a violent alcoholic.

As he becomes older Mason becomes a bit of a goth and supposedly aimless. His mom still has difficulties to sustain long term relationships, his dad has remarried and had children from his second wife. The Mason at the end of the film with an interest in photography, working in a fast food outlet, about to go away to college still has not realised what he wants in life.

There is no straight narrative, no overarching plot which has upset some critics. There are plenty of set ups where you think the film would go one way and they do not go anywhere. What you could say Chekhov's guns that remain unfired. In a sense the film shows the randomness of life where people and situations flit in and out.

Observations I would make that the film does feel at times like a slog. I think the film does not entirely succeed and looks more like an experimental film. Linklater has form with the Sunrise/Sunset films with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. However as it was being filmed the characters discuss current events around the time it happened from 9/11 to the Iraq invasion to Obama's election victory.

When I was a teenager I had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time I can relate to the issues facing Mason as a teenager. It looks like growing up today still throws up the same concerns now than it did during my time. You muddle through life and so do your parents who you thought would know better.

The film speaks about the ambiguous status of the family unit in modern society with half siblings, step siblings, step fathers, live in partner's especially when these relations break apart. At one point we see Mason's mother living with an ex-soldier, it seems they were never married and he was at one point taking care of the family. Maybe this is all part of what it is like to live in 21st century America.

When Mason's mother leaves her second husband due to his alcohol fuelled abuse, she leaves the house with Mason and his sister but leaves his own two children behind with him. She tells them that she has contacted social services but you never find out what happened to those two kids and it looks that Mason and his sister never had further contact with them even though they got on well and of course as the years go on we have the rise of social networking sites. Surely they would have Facebooked each other.

The randomness of life is reinforced where we see a plumber who is encouraged by Mason's mum to go to college who pops up many years later. It seems he took her advice and bettered himself.

There is no doubt that Boyhood is an ambitious film project. An intriguing premise which has left some people raving about it, others dismissing it as empty and boring. I am in the middle, a film that has something to offer but does not always deliver.

The only things good were the idea of shooting the actors over the years and the performances by the mother and father. There were some good moments too. Like when they move for the first time, Mason doesn't get to say goodbye, and the one where the guy comes and thanks Mason's mother for changing his life.

The movie is basically about the changes in the life of an ordinary boy from his age of 7 to 18. The problem is that it's just an average boy's life in which nothing interesting happens. We get to see him fight with his sister, her mom getting married again, his father getting married again, him graduating.. And that's it. Mason is not likeable. Neither is his sister or his parents or his step parents. He just mumbles all the time.

Most of the screen time is used for conversations which aren't that interesting. It has some good soundtrack though.