Richard Linklater
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35mm Colors in Digital Translation in Boyhood
One aspect of Boyhood that’s been relatively underdiscussed (assuming there are any such left) is its use of 35mm, which has been widely noted but little parsed. Richard Linklater’s repeatedly noted that the primary reason for shooting on film over 12 years was to ensure visual continuity from one year to the next. This doesn’t mean he’s a Luddite in any way, as he explains in comments from a recent screening at the BFI on technology’s pros and cons: There is nothing more stable than a 35mm negative. Had I started on the best HD camera back in 2002, I’d […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jul 22, 2014 -
Kodak Moments: Rick Linklater on His Award-Winning Long-Game Masterpiece, Boyhood
This interview with Rick Linklater about his Boyhood originally appeared as the cover story of our Summer, 2014 issue. As the film wins Best Picture from the New York Film Critics’ Circle, is is posted online for the first time. Time, along with its cousin memory, are among modernity’s great artistic subjects, with the title of Proust’s masterwork, In Search of Lost Time, articulating the journey of countless authors, playwrights, and filmmakers to creatively capture the sensations and meanings of our rapidly receding past. Among the latter have been directors whose films have reached for these passing years with any […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 17, 2014 -
Watch: Dennis Hopper, Richard Linklater and the Russian Dynamite Trick
From January through May this year, Richard Linklater hosted a series of screenings at the Austin Film Society of his favorite films from the ’80s followed by post-screening Q&A’s. One of his selections was Dennis Hopper’s perverse 1980 tour-de-force Out of the Blue. After the screening, Linklater had a story to tell about seeing Hopper present the film in Houston in 1983 and then taking those in attendance to a racetrack, where he surrounded himself with sticks of dynamite and set them off. You can first watch Linklater describe the evening in question and Hopper’s thinking — that the simultaneous […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jul 16, 2014 -
When Independent Film Anticipates An Audience
The arrival of summer blockbuster season and another Transformers installment means it’s time for critics to take to their think pieces and argue why Hollywood’s lowbrow, cash cow economy harms the more artful realm of independent film. The New Yorker’s Richard Brody, meanwhile, had the good, iconoclastic sense to pen an article entitled “The Real Threat To Independent Film,” whereby he concludes that the field’s dismantler does not lie within Hollywood, but in independent film itself. “The most audacious low-budget American independent filmmaking,” writes Brody, “is threatened much more significantly by misplaced critical praise for art-house mediocrities than by Hollywood.” […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jul 8, 2014 -
Richard Linklater’s Five Keys to Filmmaking
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood arrives in theaters next Friday, and the press blitzkrieg is well underway. In addition to a recent, incisive profile in The New Yorker, a relatively compact piece popped up in Fast Company that offers insight into Linkater’s process. Less practical than theoretical, the article addresses five bastions of great storytelling, according to the consummate independent filmmaker. I’ve excerpted my favorite points below. Find Your Form First “There are a lot of stories in the world, and I spend all my time thinking about how to tell them. That, to me, is the cinematic element. That’s the hard part: the right narrative form […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jul 4, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood
Trailer cutting is an art in itself and more often than not the results undersell or miss-sell the very package they promote. So goes this slightly corny bumper for Richard Linklater’s masterpiece, Boyhood, though as I recall from my knee jerk reaction to the Coldplay-scored opening sequence, any glimpse of heavy handedness in the film is not worth fretting over. It’s simply one of the most profound viewing experiences I’ve ever had and the less you know going into it, the better. That one of the more holistic family portraits in film has earned an R from the MPAA is an egregious error. IFC Films […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 25, 2014 -
True/False Diary 2: Actress, Killing Time, Boyhood
Full disclosure: I consider the industrious Robert Greene a friend, but that makes me no less cautious in deeming his new film Actress a big deal. This collaborative psychodrama follows and subjectively sculpts his friend/neighbor Brandy Burre’s attempt to simultaneously separate from her longtime boyfriend and return to the acting world she left for suburban motherhood. (Greene’s written for Filmmaker about deciding to premiere his fourth feature at this year’s True/False.) Burre is introduced in a bright red dress standing before a kitchen sink, moving in ambiguously charged slow-mo. Is it true that, as she muses, “I tend to break […]
by Vadim Rizov on Mar 5, 2014 -
The Changing Face of Scheduling: Boyhood, 52 Tuesdays, The Turning and Highway
Four films that played at the Berlin Film Festival highlighted how directors are using modern technology to completely change the way in which productions are being put together and scheduled. Both 52 Tuesdays and Boyhood were shot intermittently over a long period of time. The Turning had 17 different shoots running concurrently throughout Australia, while the Bollywood film Highway decided where to travel to next and shoot scenes on a day-by-day basis. What marks these productions out from any number of other low-budget independent films is that their directors believed a non-traditional production schedule would result in a better end-product. Rather […]
by Kaleem Aftab on Feb 28, 2014 -
Sundance Adds Richard Linklater’s Boyhood to 2014 Slate
Sundance has snuck in a few late additions to its slate (Clerks, Wish I Was Here, Lambert & Stamp) and now comes the final of these, which is also arguably the most exciting: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. The film, also known as “The Twelve Year Project,” was shot over a dozen years (2002 to 2013) with a small cast and covers the progression from youth to adulthood of a family and, principally, the children Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and Samantha (Lorelei Linklater). The parents are played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette. Linklater has for some time insisted that Boyhood would not remain the […]
by Nick Dawson on Jan 13, 2014 -
Richard Linklater to Receive Tribute at Gotham Awards
IFP announced today that Richard Linklater will receive the Director’s Tribute at this year’s Gotham Independent Film Awards. The helmer of Before Midnight, one of the most respected, gifted and prolific figures within U.S. independent film over the past two decades, will be the recipient of this honor 21 years after making his breakthrough feature with Slacker. Last year at the Gothams, Bernie (his 16th feature), was nominated for the Best Feature award. “It is with great enthusiasm and pride that we give honor to a man who has played a significant role in expanding the language of film throughout the […]
by Nick Dawson on Sep 17, 2013
