BOYHOOD

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Directed by: Richard Linklater

Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Lorelei Linklater

Running time: 163 min

We have seen people grow in Harry Potter series, but Boyhood is another kind of growing up. Shot in 12 years with the same cast, we got to see how time flies, child grows and the adults, grow older. At the center of this story is Mason, Jr. (Ellar Coltrane).

We follow Mason's life since 2002 to 2013, we seen the tiny tidbits that marks the passage of time such as gaming consoles, US presidential elections, popular culture references, and obviously how Mason Jr grew taller and taller as the film goes by. It is an amazing experience.

Mason is a child of divorce. His mother and his sister move around a lot from town to town. Mason's biological father only visits them for weekend and his mother marries someone else. The first step father was an asshole, the second one is almost an asshole too.

This, together with Mason's experience at school with his peers, shapes him to become a free spirited independent person. It asks deep questions without being too pretentious such as what is a family, do people change over time? Can someone have free will? And how to raise a child. As the film progresses, not only Mason "learns" how to become a human being, so does his parents while his step fathers are just man child not gutsy enough to face reality of life, they escaped by means of alcohol.

Richard Linklater proves once again that by simple dialogue and drama, he can make a captivating story just like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight. The notion of cinema sculpting time and story is perfectly captures here and although the duration is long, it is a rewarding journey into Mason's adolescence and perhaps, reflection of our own.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Directed by: Richard Linklater

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Running time: 109 minutes

Seldom that the third film in a trilogy manages to equalize, or even surpass the second and the first. But that is not the case with the third film of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset trilogy. The last time we met Celine and Jesse, they were not a couple and it was 2004 in Before Sunset. Jesse was still married to his wife and accidentally bumps into Celine in Paris.

Loyal to the strength of the dialogue, Midnight examines what happened after the princess say "I do" at the altar. Was it a constant happy ending or is it just another beginning? How do they keep the spark alive? Does when two people grow together they grew apart? Now Celine and Jesse already a couple. They are together and having two girls, while Jesse still taking care his son from his previous marriage.

They are forty something couple, Jesse is now successful with being a writer and Celine consider trying to work for the government. Meanwhile Jesse wanted to move back to Chicago so he can be closer to his son. Rift happens between these two and we learns that keeping people together is more difficult than saying I love you.

Sure, they are happy, but they also realized that their happiness is another door to another problem, that their personal pursuit might come at the expense of their loved ones. There's a lot of talking here, just like the previous two movies but here lies the strength of the film. The witty, quirky dialogue is the one that can make you think, laugh, even cry. It bites and makes us realize, no matter how old you are, that love is a delicate thing worth fighting for. Here, Richard Linklater score a hat-trick where he can make three films equally good in quality.