Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood,” out now, was shot over the course of twelve years, for just several days each year, with the same cast. It begins in 2002 with its central protagonist, played by Ellar Coltrane, and follows him through high school graduation and his first day at college. Along the way, you witness time work its mutative power on the actors as they physically age before your eyes. It’s completely mundane, but also thoroughly startling.

After waiting eagerly for it for some months, I got to see it on Friday night when it opened in New York. What a wonderful film. The result is more awe-inspiring, more affecting, more moving than any CG marvel that Hollywood can muster—the true definition of movie magic.