Richard Linklater's Boyhood filmed over the span of 12 years featuring the life of young Mason (and to a lesser extent, his sister) from boyhood until the verge of adulthood. His parents are divorced, his dad comes to see them at some weekends, they move house, sometimes forcibly as one of the step-dad's turns out to be a violent alcoholic.
As he becomes older Mason becomes a bit of a goth and supposedly aimless. His mom still has difficulties to sustain long term relationships, his dad has remarried and had children from his second wife. The Mason at the end of the film with an interest in photography, working in a fast food outlet, about to go away to college still has not realised what he wants in life.
There is no straight narrative, no overarching plot which has upset some critics. There are plenty of set ups where you think the film would go one way and they do not go anywhere. What you could say Chekhov's guns that remain unfired. In a sense the film shows the randomness of life where people and situations flit in and out.
Observations I would make that the film does feel at times like a slog. I think the film does not entirely succeed and looks more like an experimental film. Linklater has form with the Sunrise/Sunset films with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. However as it was being filmed the characters discuss current events around the time it happened from 9/11 to the Iraq invasion to Obama's election victory.
When I was a teenager I had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time I can relate to the issues facing Mason as a teenager. It looks like growing up today still throws up the same concerns now than it did during my time. You muddle through life and so do your parents who you thought would know better.
The film speaks about the ambiguous status of the family unit in modern society with half siblings, step siblings, step fathers, live in partner's especially when these relations break apart. At one point we see Mason's mother living with an ex-soldier, it seems they were never married and he was at one point taking care of the family. Maybe this is all part of what it is like to live in 21st century America.
When Mason's mother leaves her second husband due to his alcohol fuelled abuse, she leaves the house with Mason and his sister but leaves his own two children behind with him. She tells them that she has contacted social services but you never find out what happened to those two kids and it looks that Mason and his sister never had further contact with them even though they got on well and of course as the years go on we have the rise of social networking sites. Surely they would have Facebooked each other.
The randomness of life is reinforced where we see a plumber who is encouraged by Mason's mum to go to college who pops up many years later. It seems he took her advice and bettered himself.
There is no doubt that Boyhood is an ambitious film project. An intriguing premise which has left some people raving about it, others dismissing it as empty and boring. I am in the middle, a film that has something to offer but does not always deliver.
As he becomes older Mason becomes a bit of a goth and supposedly aimless. His mom still has difficulties to sustain long term relationships, his dad has remarried and had children from his second wife. The Mason at the end of the film with an interest in photography, working in a fast food outlet, about to go away to college still has not realised what he wants in life.
There is no straight narrative, no overarching plot which has upset some critics. There are plenty of set ups where you think the film would go one way and they do not go anywhere. What you could say Chekhov's guns that remain unfired. In a sense the film shows the randomness of life where people and situations flit in and out.
Observations I would make that the film does feel at times like a slog. I think the film does not entirely succeed and looks more like an experimental film. Linklater has form with the Sunrise/Sunset films with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. However as it was being filmed the characters discuss current events around the time it happened from 9/11 to the Iraq invasion to Obama's election victory.
When I was a teenager I had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time I can relate to the issues facing Mason as a teenager. It looks like growing up today still throws up the same concerns now than it did during my time. You muddle through life and so do your parents who you thought would know better.
The film speaks about the ambiguous status of the family unit in modern society with half siblings, step siblings, step fathers, live in partner's especially when these relations break apart. At one point we see Mason's mother living with an ex-soldier, it seems they were never married and he was at one point taking care of the family. Maybe this is all part of what it is like to live in 21st century America.
When Mason's mother leaves her second husband due to his alcohol fuelled abuse, she leaves the house with Mason and his sister but leaves his own two children behind with him. She tells them that she has contacted social services but you never find out what happened to those two kids and it looks that Mason and his sister never had further contact with them even though they got on well and of course as the years go on we have the rise of social networking sites. Surely they would have Facebooked each other.
The randomness of life is reinforced where we see a plumber who is encouraged by Mason's mum to go to college who pops up many years later. It seems he took her advice and bettered himself.
There is no doubt that Boyhood is an ambitious film project. An intriguing premise which has left some people raving about it, others dismissing it as empty and boring. I am in the middle, a film that has something to offer but does not always deliver.