Life becomes art in unique growing-up drama

The phrase "They grow up so fast" just about sums up Boyhood, the latest film by Richard Linklater.

It's more a project, given the unconventional way the writer-director shot it in 39 days - spread over a period of 12 years.

The audience will watch a pair of child stars - then-seven-year-old lead actor Ellar Coltrane as well as Linklater's own daughter Lorelei - grow up on screen in this indie-spirited but epic coming-of-age drama that runs for close to three hours.

It's a heartwarming film by a movie-maker who sometimes has a tendency to alienate movie-goers with vanity projects like A Scanner Darkly, where he shot a live-action film…