“No, seriously, go see it,” my sister said, “It’ll change your life.”
Three days later we settled down into the theater, legs propped up on the bar in front of us, popcorn in hand, waiting patiently for our lives to be changed.
Almost three hours later I walked out confused and empty, wondering what exactly was so earth shattering about a movie that dared to pass the two hour mark. However, after a lengthy car ride discussion, I decided that director Richard Linklater’s major motion picture “Boyhood” is beautiful in its subtly relatable portrayal of human life. It’s surprisingly eye opening to all who give it a chance.
The movie follows the life of Mason, a six-year-old boy living in Texas with his single mother and at times annoyingly energetic older sister. What sets “Boyhood” apart from all other cliché coming of age stories, however, is that the story continues all the way until Mason sets foot on his college campus. The movie took a whopping twelve years to film, which means the boy we see at age six is the same one who graduates high school.
The film captures many of the moments in Mason’s life — some are important milestones and some just showcase his more mundane day-to-day experiences. The storyline ebbs and flows with his developing family, his mother’s remarriage, his father’s new child and his resistance from teachers encouraging him to fit into the cookie cutter student.
All of the scenes are so strangely anticlimactic that it’s almost as if they all run together as one, yet Mason begins to change and unfold between the viewers’ very eyes. There is not one defining scene where he reevaluates who he is and changes completely as we see in most other films. Rather, he grows slowly and deliberately, each tiny change a special one. It was exciting to see what he would look like at age 10, what he would be doing at age 15.
It sounds almost boring — what we viewers expect is a massive pileup that leaves the main character suffering from amnesia and trying to rekindle his/her love with an estranged husband etc. etc. etc. But the overall effect from “Boyhood” is truly stunning; we see how slowly and gently each experience affects a person just a tiny bit — each day we wake up slightly a different person. Life doesn’t have one defining coming of age moment. It’s a massive collection.
“Boyhood” puts this into perspective. Mason grew up on screen, from a six-year-old to a quiet, artistic college student with a love for photography. I found myself reflecting on moments of my life — there are so many I can’t even remember, yet they define who I am just as they defined Mason. “Boyhood” opened my eyes to the inconsistent structure of who we are, forever shifting and changing. One day we were kids and one day we became adults.
For a truly reflective experience on childhood and what it means to grow up, devote three hours of your time to “Boyhood.”
