What’s Worth Watching: Coming of Age in Boyhood

Boyhood (Saturday, April 25, 8/7c, Showtime)

Very few movies deserve to be called one-of-a-kind. But Richard Linklater’s labor of love Boyhood, filmed over a 12-year span with an incredibly committed cast that ages before our eyes, is a truly unique and unusually authentic family saga that charts young Mason’s (Ellar Coltrane) development from age 6 to 18. Through his eyes, we watch the struggle of his single-mom Olivia (Oscar winner Patricia Arquette), with periodic visits from her ex-husband, also named Mason (an equally poignant Ethan Hawke). Described by The New York Times as “a model of cinematic realism,” Boyhood is also a meditation on the passage of time, and is well worth nearly three hours of your own.