Trailer: Boyhood

Of all the highly anticipated films coming out this year, Richard Linklater's Boyhood is certainly right up there for me. Starring Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane, this groundbreaking coming-of-age drama is unique for being shot over a period of 12 years, using the same actors -- so we actually see them age on-screen before our very eyes. Kind of like Michael Apted's Up series, but not a documentary. Boyhood has already received plenty of rave reviews at festivals, and one imagine it screening at the NZIFF later this year. The first trailer is a thing of beauty:

Educating Jenny

A quick rave for Carey Mulligan in Lone Scherfig's An Education. I'll have to echo the chorus of praises for her superb performance as Jenny, a 16-year-old schoolgirl who's seduced into living the life of her dreams by Peter Saarsgard, a smooth-talking charmer twice her age. Next to Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds, this might be my favourite piece of acting in any film this year: pure exuberance and unaffected beauty just radiating from the screen and seemingly without any effort. Hard to imagine one else in the role and definite shoe-in for Oscar material. The film's good too, nicely played coming-of-age tale (penned by High Fidelity's Nick Hornby), but definitely wouldn't be what it is without the positively mercurial presence of Mulligan. Check out the trailer: