In 1962, filmmaker François Truffaut (1932-1984) was a rising star in the world of cinema, having directed a small but significant number of acclaimed pictures, such as “The 400 Blows” (1959) and “Jules and Jim” (1962). Yet, when the brash young French auteur was asked to name the greatest influence on his work, he cited a veteran of the field, someone many years his senior, the legendary British director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980).
Figuring out what makes life work occupies much of our time and attention in our formative years. Coming to understand the world around us and how it emerges into being is a formidable task for our young minds, especially when it doesn’t seem to make sense. A noble attempt at broaching that subject provides the focus of one of the summer’s most anticipated new releases, director Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood.”