Exclusive 'Boyhood' TV Spot Charts The Growth Of Young Star Ellar Coltrane

This Boyhood TV spot opens with something that communicates the unusual scope of the Richard Linklater film in just a few seconds.

A set of photos of the central character, Mason Jr. (played by Ellar Coltrane) flashes by in quick succession, illustrating his growth from age 6 to age 18. While the feature itself is a terrific vision of the growth of the boy and the family around him, that parade of images is a perfect way to condense the film into just a few seconds. The spot continues from there, of course, and you can watch the whole thing here.

Boyhood opens limited this week, on July 11, and expands on July 18.

Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater's BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason's parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, BOYHOOD charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay's Yellow to Arcade Fire's Deep Blue. BOYHOOD is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. It's impossible to watch Mason and his family without thinking about our own journey.