Boyhood by Richard Linklater

Taking 12 years to make - following a not-so-remarkable character from the age of  five -- this is a unique project -- but would it still be a remarkable movie if it had been shot in 4 weeks with different actors for the aging roles ?

Despite the multiple marriages,  it's quite a  gender-conventional family arrangement with  a protective Mom for food and shelter -- and a poetic Dad for spiritual direction.  Despite their separation, both parents do their jobs quite well -- idealistically well -- so as the movie ends, our young hero is well poised to begin  life as an adult.

The boy's life  is really not that interesting.  He's just a passive observer of life around him -- he's not required to do  anything else.  Eventually he will pursue observation as a career (he is becoming a photographer)

So what, besides the aging actors,  made the film so watchable?  It was the dramatic life of his mom, who has a problematic talent for choosing, irresponsible, self-centered, controlling, and often alcoholic men.  The dramatic climax comes when she confronts one of these losers and rescues her children from him.  It's her life that makes this a story - as she works into an academic career and completes her job of motherhood -  only to weep in despair that her life would never go  beyond that.

Christianity  enters the film through the father's new wife.  Her parents are some kind of Protestant (Baptists - Evangelicals ?  - I can't tell)   We're not shown much about them --they appear to be kindly -and generous - at least in sharing what they consider to be important.   As they gift  the boy with a Bible and shotgun, they echo Obama's famous quote that Americans "cling to their guns and religion".  But to their credit -- they appear to embrace their son-in-law and his two children - even though they are completely un-churched.


National politics enters the film, too, as dad takes the children around to campaign for Obama in the 2008 election. Mom, by the way, seems to be un-involved. In a tradition kind of way, it's Dad who is both the spiritual and political leader of the family.


BTW - ethnic diversity permeates this family's world.  Asian, Mexican, and African-Americans appear in family social settings.   I do not think of my own family as ethnocentric --- but as with the family wedding that I just attended, our cast of characters is usually 100% Euro-American.

One of the interesting vignettes in the film is the relationship between Mom and a young Hispanic laborer who is working for a contractor repairing  her house.   She tells him that he is smart -- so he should get an education.  A few years later, she meets him again, and he thanks her for the advice that changed his life.  But she expresses no emotion over that revelation -- it's as if she was just doing her job as an educator.  She acts surprised -- rather than happy.

Perhaps it's just my own family's issues, but it does seem that alcoholism is the primary theme of this story.  When son asks dad "What's it all about ?" -- dad tells him "we're just winging it"--and "feeling things".  He doesn't talk about drinking -- but in my mind, drug abuse is the attempt to deaden feelings that are too painful -- so a life dedicated to feeling has to be drug free.

And speaking of painful feelings -- the cinematic style of the first episode was almost too painful for me to watch. I seriously considered walking out of the theater.    But that style changed along with the characters.  It became more open and lyrical - until it reached it apogee in the final scene at Big Bend National Park.