As I was discussing January's new releases on DVD and Blu-ray, I thought of one festival film that certainly wouldn't hurt to mention. Boyhood, from director Richard Linklater, won several Golden Globes. Not only did the director get an award, but lead actress Patricia Arquette was also honored. Of course, there's the Golden Globe for Best Film – Drama and other awards, including the British Independent Film Award for Best Foreign Independent Film.
The Blu-ray and DVD are coming to the Czech basin in January, so film fans shouldn't forget to buy it. But I must remind you that these are film fans outside the mainstream of fandom. Which means that those who like to watch art films full of awards will buy the medium. They'll appreciate the director and the acting and, of course, the fact that no one put hundreds of millions into this film and that it's only a $4 million movie.
We can't forget the uniqueness of this film in that it was made over a full 12 years. Every year, the director and the main cast of the film got together to shoot five days in the life of the main character. Therefore, during the entire 12-year period, the film was shot for 55 days.
Already in July, when the film Boyhood went to Czech art cinemas, a review was written on our website. Be sure to check it out. The film received only 70% from our editor, but that certainly does not diminish the value of this film. I'm sure art film fans already know not to pay attention to critics' ratings, so they go to see the films they like.
When I take the Blu-ray of the film, which took 12 years to make, I realise that there were no digital cameras when filming started. And so the whole film was shot on analogue cameras. When I look at the entire film as it was shot, there's no harm in comparing the film image from the earliest days of filming 12 years ago to the most recent ones. There are minimal differences, so you can barely tell the age of the film at all in the film.
You can tell that the film was shot over a long period of time mainly by the fact that the main characters develop from their kindergarten years to getting their driver's license. You watch the evolution of how their characters change from their childhood years, when they were happy with their parents, to their official adulthood at 18.
By the film going from cinemas to home TV, I mustn't forget the dubbing. Martin Sobotka and Ivana Milbachová play the lead adult voices. In the children's roles for the girl, one of the clever Tabery sisters, Terezie, was chosen. And for the main character of the boy, with whom we will live his entire youth, Zdeněk Mahdal chose four dubbers. From Jan Rimbala, who became famous for dubbing Jake in Two and a Half Men, to Oldřich Hajlich. Dialogue and dubbing direction was done by the already very well established director Jiří Kvasnička. This is therefore a very high quality dub that doesn't hurt the film at all.
If you like arthouse films that you can mostly only find in arthouse cinemas, then definitely buy this film on Blu-ray or DVD. Admittedly, it contains almost no bonus features. Well, one does. A behind-the-scenes look at Boyhood. This bonus feature is only two and a half minutes long, so it shouldn't even be called a bonus feature. It's just a small taste of how the filming actually took place.
The price certainly doesn't hurt for a novelty film this good. The recommended price for the Blu-ray is under £500 and the DVD is £299. You're sure to find better prices in online store discounts.
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Order the Blu-ray or DVD.
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Blu-ray Screenshots
Original release of this article February 4, 2015 – Kritiky.cz
