You have to be in the right mindset to go into a Richard Linklater film because you can come out being amazed by it or you can come out being unsatisfied.
I struggled a little as I write this review. I wanted to say I wasn't satisfied, but as I recalled his movies that I've watched, there were the Before Sunrise trilogy which was just dialogue and dialogue from start to finish - much like Boyhood, yet I loved them. And then there were others like School Of Rock, which were more mainstream; and I thought that was just alright.
Sure, that whole movie-shot-in-12-years-span was one heck of a patient job, and the result unfolded amazingly right in front of us; but I just thought the whole story plateaued right from the beginning. There were a lot of drama but yet that didn't translated to the audience in an emotional way. At least for me.
Ellar Coltrane was amazing, ever since he was a little boy. He pulled the audience in with his innocence, and as he grew up we saw how he developed as an actor as well.
The rest of the cast were equally great, especially Patricia Arquette who was the emotional anchor; and it was amazing to watch her evolve as well.
Long-time collaborator of Linklater was Ethan Hawke, and to think they started this project just before Before Sunset! Let that sink in for a bit and it will astonish the mind.
Linklater's real life daughter, Lorelei, also looked like a very competent young actress. It will be interesting to see if she what kind of roles she does next as she hasn't been doing much.
Two spoiler paragraphs below.
One part that I didn't like about the story was how Linklater decided to use the addiction to alcohol as the beginning to failure in the marriages of Arquette's character. It was almost as if she kept driving her partners to the addiction. If that was Linklater's intent, then it opened up another layer of discussion, but that would mean Arquette's character was so flawed to have that repetition happening in her life. Yet, she wasn't portrayed that way in her characteristic. She was portrayed as a strong woman and a fair mother, just longed for the promise of what a marriage mean and a "full" family.
It was also very nice to see she realised what's happening with her life and she finally stopped looking for a husband. Although that did come back in a big way when she had that emotional breakdown in front of her son. But that didn't quite hit me in a way that I thought Linklater would have wanted it to. It almost came out of nowhere just to sum up what she went through in her life for the past 12 years, her feelings and expectations. But life only gives us lemons, not lemonades.
In the end, it wasn't as satisfying as watching Before Sunrise. Though I do appreciate how monumental the production for this was and how great of a treat it was to watch the characters grow right in front of our eyes. For 12 years!
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