Boyhood Review

Boyhood
Written and Directed by Richard Linklater

By: Melissa Sanchez

Growing up is hard and coming of age is never easy; first kisses, relationships, sexual experiences and the like never turn out the way it does in the movies. It’s never pretty, it’s acne, temper tantrums and trying to understand one’s parents, all part of the process. In the film Boyhood, director Richard Linklater tells the story in real-time of one boy, Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his journey into becoming an adult. Before the audience’s eyes the boy grows up into a man and we see how the moments in his life shape who he is and the way he chooses to live his life.

Just like they say in physics, every action causes a reaction, and the same can be said for Mason’s life. In the beginning he is 6 years old, his mother Olivia (Patricia Arquette) is a struggling single mom raising him and his older sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater). After a failed relationship with a boyfriend, she decides to pack the family and move to Houston so she can go back to college and get a degree in Psychology.

In Houston, their father Mason (Ethan Hawke) finally comes through and starts to see his kids. He does the usual weekend dad activities like bowling, camping and buying them cool gifts. At the bowling alley and in the car, he always tries to coerce them to talk and tell him about their lives, but they do the usual kid thing and give one or two word answers. He gives them advice along the way about the opposite sex, dating, love and his life lessons as a struggling musician.

Their mother is the rock of the family, even if she disagrees with her kids she is always there for them and making the best decisions possible with what she is given. She goes through husbands and failed relationships; all the time Mason is there to witness the rise and fall of her love connections from a distance. As a young boy he observes the fights, the moments when his mom seems interested in someone new and the point in which he looks at her and knows that the relationship is doomed.

As we see Mason grow up we also observe his sister and their relationship. As they grow older, their bond deepens from the initial juvenile fights that many brother sister relationships go through.  He starts to realize his mother is just like him, searching for a better life but never quite knowing what she wants. Just because you are an adult, it doesn’t mean you have life figured out.

We also see the father change, in the beginning he is a hapless, cool, hip musician and in the end we see him tackle life with a different sense of vigor and maturity. In a way he grows up too.

Mason meets a girl who tells him “do people seize moments or do moments seize you?” This could be said for the entire movie, the moments in our lives make us who we are. Even moments that seem insignificant to one person are huge to the other. When parents spout off random things to their kids, we see that these notions stick with kids. This movie, to sum it up is about those stolen moments in life that are never filmed, they are simply memories, but ones that stay with us for the rest of our lives. They shape who we are, they guide our decisions and in the end we can choose to learn from them. If you are in the Linklater camp, then you will most definitely love this film. And if you are not, take a risk and watch it, you might just be surprised.

}}Melissa

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