This audacious piece took 12 years to make! Writer/director Richard Linklater ("Before Sunrise," "Before Sunset" "Before Midnight" trilogy, which was also shot over the years) started this film in 2002 and completed it in 2013. Sort of like Harry Potter, which began in 2001 and concluded in 2010, we watch children grow, adults age and see society transform around them.

This cast stayed with the project from beginning to end:

• * Ellar Coltrane ("Fast Food Nation") is Mason, the boy we watch grow from a 6-year-old boy into an appealing 18-year-old just entering college.
• * Lorelei Linklater ("Waking Life") is his sister Samantha, always there, always a bit precocious and his personal anchor as their lives make some painful shifts. She is the one who collects the most money as she monitors the "Swear" penalty.
• * Patricia Arquette ("Boardwalk Empire") is Mom, who experiences the most dramatic changes as her personal life goes to hell in a hand-basket... more than once.
• * Ethan Hawke ("The Woman in the Fifth") is Dad, immature, but engaged in his children's lives, and finally (!) growing up.

I was interested in some of the Texas locations, mostly Austin and Houston, but, being from Seattle, I was amazed by the available parking on the streets...smile...

Most of our real lives don't have big explosive events and this is a depiction of real life. I'm not sure why this is R rated; we saw a smidgen of profanity, no sweaty bodies, three gunshots (under supervision), some high school pot smoking, and no blowie uppie stuff. Kinda like most lives. The big draw is watching these people change over a period of 12 years. (166 minutes is a very l-o-n-g running time, though...) This one will win awards, you watch!