'Birdman' Soars to Five 2014 WAFCA Award Wins; 'Boyhood' Earns Best Film

The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, of which most of us are members, has announced the winners of the 2014 WAFCA Awards, and it continues the string of success for Richard Linklater's coming-of-age drama, Boyhood. The indie film took home four awards, including wins in the Best Film and Best Director category. Best Supporting Actress went to Patricia Arquette while the Best Youth Performance (for actors under age 20) went to star Ellar Coltrane.

Taking the most victories with five was Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's meta-comedy, Birdman, with Michael Keaton winning Best Actor. Best Animated Feature went to The Lego Movie, while Julianne Moore won for portraying a woman with Alzheimer's Disease in Still Alice. Keeping up with the beat was JK Simmons who won Best Supporting Actor for his role as a sadistic drum instructor in Whiplash, while in a surprise victory Under the Skin won for Best Original Score.

The full list of winners is below:

THE 2014 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:

Best Film:
Boyhood

Best Director:
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Actor:
Michael Keaton (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Actress:
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Best Supporting Actor:
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Youth Performance:
Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)

Best Original Screenplay:
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Armando Bo (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Animated Feature:
The LEGO Movie

Best Documentary:
Life Itself

Best Foreign Language Film:
Force Majeure

Best Art Direction:
Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen, Set Decorator: Anna Pinnock (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Editing:
Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione, ACE (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Original Score:
Mica Levi (Under the Skin)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier

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Review: Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' Starring Ethan Hawke and Ellar Coltrane

 NOTE: This is a reprinted review from the Sundance Film Festival.

Over the last twenty years we've grown accustomed to Richard Linklater's obsession with the passage of time through his Before Sunsettrilogy. Every nine years we catch up on his cherished couple as they've gone from meeting to marriage and who knows where in the future. It's kind of strange to call Boyhood Linklater's latest film considering he began the ambitious project more than twelve years ago, filming it a few days each year to cover one boy's journey into adulthood. Nothing of its type has ever been attempted before, not even through Michael Apted's terrific Updocumentary series. Combining hyper-realism with a fictional narrative, Linklater has created the purest of coming-of-age movies, but was the long wait truly worth it? Or was it all just one long, drawn out stunt without any real benefit?

Well, the answer is....somewhere in between. A middle of the road answer for a film that, while great at exploring how one's life evolves in big and small ways over the course of time, still manages to feel unfinished after such a long production and a 3-hour run time. It has nothing to do with the soundtrack, which Linklater admitted afterwards is still uncleared and may change when the final version is released. It has to do with the incompleteness in the story of Mason (Ellar Coltrane), a Texas boy who is at 7 years old at the time we meet him. The film largely centers on him and his troubled upbringing in an affluent but broken home. Four central characters accompany Mason on this 12 year odyssey, growing and changing right alongside him: headstrong older sister Samantha (Lorelai Linklater, Richard's daughter); his mom Olivia (Patricia Arquette); and estranged father Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke), who flits in and out of the film playfully dropping pearls of Linklater-esque wisdom on philosophy, politics, music, and of course, women.

Contrary to the title, the film is as much about parenthood and the subtle effects parenting can have on children as they develop. Presenting in episodic fashion, flashing us through the years at what seems so be a rapid pace initially, the kids are dragged through Olivia's consistent relationship troubles. As she goes from one toxic boyfriend to the next, we see the impact of it on Mason and Lorelai, and how it informs who they become as adults. Their parents' initial separation seems tame compared to the volatile divorces she would have in the future with men consumed by alcohol and depression. After one particularly violent episode, we see how it emboldens the typically-quiet Mason to be more vocal to his mother when she starts to slip.

Captured in vivid images and told in Linklater's typically astute, observational style similar to his 'Before' movies (expect lots of walking and talking), perhaps the greatest achievement is how natural it all flows together given the fractured manner in which the film was constructed. Presented as snapshots of time and place, Linklater uses music and technology as cultural touchstones, and it's especially interesting to watch the different ways everybody communicates over the years.

While there is no true story arc for any one character, because life is an ever-evolving thing, every character undergoes dramatic changes far beyond the physical. With his long moppy head of hair and features that grow to resemble a young Ethan Hawke, Mason maintains a hopeful gleam in his eyes and an inquisitive nature inspired by his father. With a film of this length there are periods that sag and lack in depth. The second hour is particularly flat as Mason reaches his teenage years, a crucial time when most people are trying, failing, making hard decisions, trying and failing once again. Making mistakes is a part of life and a crucial part of a person's development, but we never see Mason actually do anything. A sense of true discovery is sorely missing in the construction of Mason as a man.

Linklater is a master of crafting large sagas on a small-scale, and Boyhoodfits perfectly into his canon. Despite some narrative issues, there's no denying this sad, funny, and hopeful film is a technical and emotional achievement.

 Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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First Trailer for Richard Linklater's Decade-Spanning Epic, 'Boyhood'

Movies that attempt to capture a natural progression of time are not unprecedented. Perhaps the finest example is Michael Apted's 7 Up series of documentaries, which follow the same people in seven year increments. A chronological year passed fluidly in Horikazu Koreeda's abandonment drama, Nobody Knows, and was largely successful at it. But what Richard Linklater has done with Boyhood, a film he shot over the course of twelve years with the same actors, is something truly extraordinary.

The first trailer for Boyhood has been replaced, an achievement in and of itself considering Linklater began the project way back in 2002. Starring Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, and Linklater's daughter Lorelai, the film spans twelve years in the life of a boy as he evolves into a man. Along the way he'll deal with family hardships, find first love, and overcome other personal obstacles that influence his future. Linklater shot the film in bits and pieces each year, and one of the most intriguing aspects is watching how each actor ages and improves in their performances.

It's a film I was impressed by at Sundance but perhaps not as much as others, saying that despite its technical and emotional achievements "there are periods that sag and lack in depth", while a "sense of true discovery is sorely missing" in the lead character's development.

Boyhood opens on July 11th.

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Sundance Review: 'Boyhood' Directed by Richard Linklater

Over the last twenty years we've grown accustomed to Richard Linklater's obsession with the passage of time through his Before Sunset trilogy. Every nine years we catch up on his cherished couple as they've gone from meeting to marriage and who knows where in the future. It's kind of strange to call Boyhood Linklater's latest film considering he began the ambitious project more than twelve years ago, filming it a few days each year to cover one boy's journey into adulthood. Nothing of its type has ever been attempted before, not even through Michael Apted's terrific Up documentary series. Combining hyper-realism with a fictional narrative, Linklater has created the purest of coming-of-age movies, but was the long wait truly worth it? Or was it all just one long, drawn out stunt without any real benefit?

Well, the answer is....somewhere in between. A middle of the road answer for a film that, while great at exploring how one's life evolves in big and small ways over the course of time, still manages to feel unfinished after such a long production and a 3-hour run time. It has nothing to do with the soundtrack, which Linklater admitted afterwards is still uncleared and may change when the final version is released. It has to do with the incompleteness in the story of Mason (Ellar Coltrane), a Texas boy who is at 7 years old at the time we meet him. The film largely centers on him and his troubled upbringing in an affluent but broken home. Four central characters accompany Mason on this 12 year odyssey, growing and changing right alongside him: headstrong older sister Samantha (Lorelai Linklater, Richard's daughter); his mom Olivia (Patricia Arquette); and estranged father Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke), who flits in and out of the film playfully dropping pearls of Linklater-esque wisdom on philosophy, politics, music, and of course, women.

Contrary to the title, the film is as much about parenthood and the subtle effects parenting can have on children as they develop. Presenting in episodic fashion, flashing us through the years at what seems so be a rapid pace initially, the kids are dragged through Olivia's consistent relationship troubles. As she goes from one toxic boyfriend to the next, we see the impact of it on Mason and Lorelai, and how it informs who they become as adults. Their parents' initial separation seems tame compared to the volatile divorces she would have in the future with men consumed by alcohol and depression. After one particularly violent episode, we see how it emboldens the typically-quiet Mason to be more vocal to his mother when she starts to slip.

Captured in vivid images and told in Linklater's typically astute, observational style similar to his 'Before' movies (expect lots of walking and talking), perhaps the greatest achievement is how natural it all flows together given the fractured manner in which the film was constructed. Presented as snapshots of time and place, Linklater uses music and technology as cultural touchstones, and it's especially interesting to watch the different ways everybody communicates over the years.

While there is no true story arc for any one character, because life is an ever-evolving thing, every character undergoes dramatic changes far beyond the physical. With his long moppy head of hair and features that grow to resemble a young Ethan Hawke, Mason maintains a hopeful gleam in his eyes and an inquisitive nature inspired by his father. With a film of this length there are periods that sag and lack in depth. The second hour is particularly flat as Mason reaches his teenage years, a crucial time when most people are trying, failing, making hard decisions, trying and failing once again. Making mistakes is a part of life and a crucial part of a person's development, but we never see Mason actually do anything. A sense of true discovery is sorely missing in the construction of Mason as a man.

Linklater is a master of crafting large sagas on a small-scale, and Boyhood fits perfectly into his canon. Despite some narrative issues, there's no denying this sad, funny, and hopeful film is a technical and emotional achievement.

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Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' Late Addition to Sundance Line-Up

Twelve years in the making and one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2014, the curtain is finally about to be lifted on Richard Linklater's wildly ambition drama, Boyhood. Today the Sundance Film Festival announced the film as a late addition to their slate, with a special screening to be held January 19th.

Linklater was at the festival just last year with Before Midnight, but Boyhood marks a very special occasion and will surely be the centerpiece movie of the entire event. Since 2002 Linklater has spent a few weeks every year shooting  the film, covering twelve years in the life of a single family.  Newcomer Ellar Salmon is at the center of it as Mason, who along with his sister is taken on an emotional journey from childhood to adulthood. Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelai Linklater, and Ethan Hawke co-star.

The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 16th-26th.

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