For those of you not yet aware, “Boyhood”, directed by Richard Linklater, is far from your average movie going experience.

The movie centers around the “coming-of-age” of the main character, Mason. The story follows him as a small boy, documenting the trials and tribulations of his nontraditional family and his navigation through, you guessed it, boyhood.

At this point, you may be wondering what exactly makes this pretty cliché subject matter so unique.

Here is the kicker — “Boyhood” was shot in real-time.

As we follow Mason from age 5 to 18-years-old, we are also watching a movie that took 12 years to film.

This meant getting a group of actors who were willing to commit to a project that would take a good portion of their lives to make.

The casting process was one of the most essential parts of the production for writer/director Richard Linklater. The part of Mason and his sister Samantha are played by Ellar Coltrane and Linklater’s own daughter, Lorelei, both of whom are relatively unknown actors.

Linklater was lucky enough to get Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette to sign on to play Mason’s estranged parents, rounding out the only cast members that would appear throughout the film. Aside from getting a studio (ultimately IFC) to sign on for such an ambitious project, acquiring a solid nucleus of actors was perhaps the most important factor in getting this movie made.

This groundbreaking approach to filmmaking made it impossible, and frankly unfair, to view the film in the same lens as any other.

As I said before, the story is unlike anything that audiences have seen before.

That being said, it is not a boring plot by any means.

Arquette plays the part of Mason’s single mother who is raising her two children on her own, as well as working to become a psychology professor. On the flip side, Hawke perfectly portrays the part of the “fun” father, although inherently immature and absent.

Although the movie is undoubtedly about Mason, it is the relationships with his mother and, in a smaller sense, his father that drives much of the changes in his life and the movie.

The plot also includes one of two stepfathers who turn out to be an alcohol-dependent abuser, another cliché plot twist.

This unique film demands a critical look. Despite the fact that I viewed the movie only a short time ago, very little of the plot comes to mind.

The film is nearly three hours long, but this does not mean that I was bored. Actually, the way the plot is structured might be one of the greatest accomplishments of the film.

Big plot twists may have made it a little more exciting, but it would not have been real, and being real is the driving force behind this movie.

There are key points in the plot that come and go without being fully realized at the time. In other movies, this would seem frustrating, but it works in this very unique movie that is trying to capture life in its truest form like no other film has ever accomplished. After all, life is not like movies. We do not know what events will truly matter in our lives until years after they have passed.

“Boyhood” is a film with skilled actors, led by a talented and visionary director.

Linklater, who earned his chops directing films like “School Of Rock,” was able to find a team of excellent actors to pull off something that, although not perfect, has surely never been accomplished in cinematic history.

For that alone, this film is most definitely worth a watch.

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