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Film Analysis Of The Film Boyhood

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The film Boyhood takes its audience on a unique journey of human development as it is captured over time and presented in the span of the film. Boyhood follows the life of a young boy named Mason, Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) and his family over the course of 12 years. The same amount of time that it took to make this film, giving it a unique and creative perspective. The film focuses on how time progresses, social conditioning, and the how the small things in life are what make up the bigger picture. Boyhood’s director Richard Linklater reminds his audience that they have very little control over what happens in their lives, since it moves at its own pace. We can see time changing through current events, popular songs, hair styles, and fashion rather than a time stamp. As an audience we see how the days linger but the years fly by. The characters have no control over time. It does not matter if they want to slow it down or speed it up, time moves at its own pace.

The movie starts with a six year old Mason, Jr. who lives with his mother (Patricia Arquette) and his sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater). Mason's mother Olivia has been socially conditioned to believe that a mother, a father, and two kids is what makes a family. Even though this might not be what is best for her and her children, she strives for this stereotypical family. Olivia has a need to build new relationships, as she thinks it is going to fix everything. The idea of a nuclear family leads this single mother to
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