If all Richard Linklater had brought was the gimmick of filming some kid actors as they grew up it might have been tedious but what he has given us is the story of a family that never has a cliche ‘ah-ha’ moment on film. There are no long talks about self and one’s role in the universe, there are no breakthrough confrontations that end with child understanding parent and parent discovering child.

This really is a movie about life. It’s simple, it’s messy, it’s sad, it's normal. A thousand small insignificant moments entwined with life changes both major and minor and just like life they are not dissected or heralded with fanfare, they just occur and the family moves on.

Nothing ‘happens’ and I think that’s maybe why I liked it so much. While there are no big events, the consequences of life’s everyday decisions are shown over the course of a decade.

Now onto the hook. It IS fascinating watching these actors grow up. How they change; how they don’t change. How they stay the same for so long and then bam you see them again and they are taller, skinnier, curvier. I enjoyed Linklater’s treatment of this because while it is the most compelling element of the film, it is never alluded to and I appreciated the fact he did not feel the need to hit me over the head with boobs/voice changing/hormones-are-in-control conversations.

This is also a movie about parents without being ‘about parenthood’ and Ethan Hawke gives, for me, the best performance of his life (though I’m an Ethan-hater by nature). It’s a movie about everything and nothing in particular.