"Linklater's writing is typically warm and insightful, and the cast is uniformly excellent, including Ellar Coltrane as the quiet, down-to-earth hero," said J.R Jones of the Chicago Reader.

BoyhoodPatricia Arquette, a much older Ellar Coltrane, and Richard Linklater

During a recent interview with Oregon Live, Linklater discussed the obvious: what would have happened in Ethan Hawke had been hit by a bus?

"That's kind of a thing that never spoke its name," he said, "You never even talked about stuff like that, just the way you don't in life, do you? We knew that statistically we were probably going to be okay there. And we were."

Boyhood is in cinemas now.

Watch the Boyhood trailer: