This is just a short little unorthodox post but hey, its my blog – I set the rules.
I finished watching Boyhood last night – a film by Richard Linklater (Waking life, A Scanner Darkley) that maps the childhood of the films main character Mason. I’m not a film buff by any means but I thought it was a fantastic film, well shot, well acted and a good script. Anyone around my age (20-30) will find at least some degree of nostalgia or can relate to the experiences of Mason – it’s growing up after all.
The soundtrack was fantastic: The Flaming Lips, Wilco, The Black keys, Arcade fire and the Foo Fighters all chronologically track Mason’s upbringing with an obvious American Indie flavour. The film also had a few great musical references in it; Mason says his new flat mate is mad on Bright Eyes at one point, they watch a Bluegrass band live and his Dad plays guitar. One particularly nice scene is when his Dad makes him The Beatles ‘Black Album’ for his 16th.
I’m trying not to give much away plot-wise, but, in fairness, not a lot really happens – there’s no ‘it was earth all along’ twist at the end (it was earth all along). There’s a scene towards the end when Mason is leaving home to go to college and his Mother is having a mini break-down over it – again, something that most of us have probably experienced but like in the scene we (like Mason) are just too excited to get out in to the world and live our own lives without necessarily considering how it affects our parents. Mason leaves and begins a road-trip south to Austin, Texas – a road i myself have traveled. He’s in his clapped out blue pickup and is obviously contemplating leaving home and moving to a new city. The scene was moving enough, the soundtrack to the scene? This:
Family of the Year – Hero. Whoever picked that song for that scene knocked it out the park. I had a moment where I had to watch all the credits waiting to find out who it was. Family of the Year, alongside a whole bunch of great bands (Lord Huron, The Head and the Heart, War on Drugs), are combining Indie with more Country-esque vibes/instrumentation to really nice effect.
Not only was the scene beautiful but the song also perfectly concludes the story of the music behind the film – as the soundtrack develops chronologically you can hear the development the American Indie scene has also gone through in 15 odd years. It too has grown.
Top film – just my cup of tea. Added bonus: found a new band.