Sandy Kenyon reviews "Boyhood," where actors age over 12-year span

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The Broadcast Film Critics announced their nominations for the annual Critics' Choice Awards today, and "Boyhood" earned a total of eight. Earlier this month, New York film critics called it the best movie of the year.

"Boyhood" is a rare film that is truly unprecedented, because it's never been done before. It's the fictional tale of one boy and his family, shot over the course of many years, a little at a time. The result is a unique perspective on what it means to grow up.

To experience "Boyhood" is to watch Mason grow in front of our eyes. He ages 12 years in the course of one film.

Director Richard Linklater began his film in 2002 and shot a few days per year over the course of a dozen years.

"'Boyhood' is the complete original," star Ethan Hawke said. "It's the first movie I've ever done which is truly not like another movie."

That's not just Hollywood hype. Hawke's character and the mom, played by Patricia Arquette, are divorced. He's an absentee dad struggling to stay connected to their two children.

Arquette's character is a single who marries twice unsuccessfully.

"It was amazing to watch this boy and girl grow up," Arquette said.

The girl was played by the filmmaker's own daughter.

"(It's) one story made up of a lot of little pieces," Linklater said.

The boy was played by a remarkable young man named Ellar Coltrane, who was hired when he was just 6 years old.

"Boyhood" is longer than most and not even very dramatic, and yet, it's that very rare film that's earned almost universal praise.

I did not want it to end, and it turns out other critics feel the same way.

There is a series of documentary films that checks back with the same group of people in Britain every seven years, but "Boyhood" is no documentary. It is a leisurely walk through the life of one family in Texas, but it is more memorable than any of the blockbusters that are everywhere this summer.

Look for "Boyhood" to be a top contender at the Oscars come February.