1. Boyhood

Let’s start at the end. Mason (Ellar Coltrane), now in college, captures the essence of “Boyhood,” and dare we say, life itself, in one line: “It’s like it’s always right now.” Subtly, almost invisibly, he looks straight into the camera, just long enough to break the fourth wall. We see the credits roll in a state of purified awe.

Much ink has been spilled on the film’s aesthetic merits and conceptual virtues, but what makes it such an important film, what Mason’s poignant look means, lies in its very constitution: the dozen years it took to arrive at that moment in time. A decade had to pass for us to meet Mason and make that final connection.

“Boyhood” is a statement of creative boldness in a time that has no time to spare. It reminds us that patience is not a pitiful chimera but the way to artistic creation. “Boyhood” took its time. The result can be experienced in Mason’s eyes, witnessing years collapsing into a naked, beautiful instant.

– Mario Attie, Staff Writer