<p>I always need to go to the bathroom, but I forgot all about it during the movie. That’s miraculous.</p>
<p>Very much looking forward to seeing this film. </p>
<p>I report back to school tomorrow, so I made a quick “end of summer vacation” trip to Nashville to see D. I took D and her boyfriend to see Boyhood yesterday. I thought it was okay, but not great. All three of us thought it was too long. It was interesting to see the kids age and the young man who plays Mason looks as if he could be Ethan Hawke’s son IRL. Based on the glowing reviews in the media, I had thought I would be raving about how good it was, so a little disappointed.</p>
<p>I took my d to DC to our favorite theater to see it. We were both worried we’d think it would feel too long and were both surprised when it was over and we hadn’t starved to death or had to go to the bathroom in the middle.</p>
<p>D started googling it like crazy after we left - after all she was Mason’s age so she really identified. They filmed it during the summer and they talked each year about the plot line of that age. D didn’t like his haircut at the end. 
</p>
<p>I thought it was a fascinating project. How people grow and change, but are really still the same people. I was glad to see Ethan Hawke’s character grow and develop and turn into a great father. </p>
<p>2VU, you’re the only one I “know” who didn’t love it. I’m a Texan so I feel a little biased in its favor. :)</p>
<p>@Youdon’tsay - where is the last scene filmed? We couldn’t figure out what part of Texas that was and having never been it didn’t look like how I envision TX.</p>
<p>A BIT OF A SPOILER … avert your eyes if you don’t want to hear more.</p>
<p>I know! That’s one reason I love the movie. It shows all parts of the state – from the pines of East Texas to the mountains of West Texas. I believe the college kids head out to Big Bend National Park, which is in far West Texas. That tells me that he’s probably attending Sul Ross State University. As a cc junkie, I was totally trying to figure out where he would go to college as his dad said he had in-state tuition but was going as far away as possible. To me, knowing they were in San Marcos, that meant either Texas Tech in the Panhandle or some school in West Texas – UT-El Paso or Sul Ross. In this link on the Sul Ross website, you can see how close it is to the mountains: <a href=“http://www.sulross.edu/”>http://www.sulross.edu/</a></p>
<p>And since I wrote spoiler alert at the top, I want to say part of what I LOVE about this movie is that its portrayal of Texas was so dead-on. It’s a vast, diverse state where someone can have a gun and not be considered a nut and go to church and not be in your face about it. That’s the Texas I know and love, not the stereotypes people like to put on us.</p>
<p>Also, you should check out the interview with Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette on YouTube. It’s so good.</p>
<p>We saw it last night. I liked it, but I didn’t intensely love it as much as I expected too. There were moments that really resonated so much though, little ones like the sibling relationship in the younger years and bigger ones, like how the mother feels at the end. There was one conversation that felt to me as if the writer had eavesdropped on my son and borrowed his words. The film is an impressive accomplishment to be sure and definitely worth seeing.</p>
<p>My daughter and I saw it tonight. Because the audience follows the actors through the years and because the actors were so convincing, it’s easy to suspend disbelief and feel as if you’re witnessing their real lives. The movie is about more than just this boy. The two parent characters are well-developed, and while they were flawed people, they were easy to love and identify with. Being able to actually film during the years being portrayed gave the movie a unique authenticity, since there was no need to recreate music, hairstyles, clothing, and language- it was as it was. We both enjoyed it throughout and didn’t feel it dragged at all ,although I admit I’d be happy watching movies all day long with my adult daughter and consider it a privilege that she lives close enough that I can.
One message the film sends that resonates strongly with me is the truth that what we have in this life is a series of moments, and while we might ask, “Is this is all there is?” we can also be awakened by that knowledge and cherish the moments as they’re happening, and really be present for them. We often live as if life is about getting somewhere, becoming something or someone, and forget that what we have right here right now is what matters.</p>
<p>We both found it touching, poignant, and uplifting. I think I’d be happy to see it again with my son or husband if I have that opportunity.</p>
<p>Just saw this with my D who is Masons age. Loved it. It was like binge watching real life. Very well done. </p>
<p>Based on this thread, I went with three friends to see this last night and we all loved it. It was really long, but it didn’t feel long. I felt like I’d like to see the next twelve years since he’d then be about the age of my kids. It was the first movie in years in which the audience clapped at the end. Usually they are just in a hurry to leave. People laughed throughout, squirmed at times and I wish we would have had more time to discuss it afterwards but we went at night and it was past our bedtime. I will probably watch it again.</p>
<p>I finally got out to see Boyhood and loved it. I was a little worried that dh would be bored, but he liked it too. It felt to me like it gave me all the parts of my kids lives I wished I knew about. (What do they do when they head out the door?- answer you probably don’t really want to know…) </p>
<p>BTW if anyone wants to know exactly what was on the Black Album: <a href=“'The Black Album' Puts The Beatles Back Together for New Generation | The Takeaway | WNYC”>http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/after-beatles-black-album/</a></p>
<p>My son and his buddies went to see it as one of their last activities before they all parted ways to go to college. He loved it. He suggested I wait until my sadness about him leaving subsides a bit before I see it. </p>
<p>^^^ I kind of agree… you raised a smart kid.</p>
<p>I felt sorry for the Mom. She was the only one who didn’t seem to be in a good place yet, even though she’d done a pretty good job with both her kids and had inspired at least one person to go to college. </p>
<p>I was slightly bugged by how few people had Texas accents. I wondered whether regional accents are less common among the younger generation or if it was simply that the actors weren’t from Texas. (Only one of my brother’s three kids has a New Hampshire accent - Mom is from Florida, Dad from foreign service upbringing no particular accent.)</p>
<p>Many of the actors were from Texas. Mason jr., mason sr (Ethan hawke was born in Texas), the Linklaters live in Austin so that includes the older sister, the teen love interest is a native Austinite, the mom’s brunette friend Carol is an Austinite, Jimmy the musician friend is an Austin musician, the friend’s older brother (who plays Drew’s lax bro roommate in Parenthood) is a Texan.</p>
<p>The actor who plays Mason (the boy), Ellar Coltrane, is from Texas. Three of my kids go/went to college in Texas --they rarely hear/heard any Texas accents. Accents are more prevalent in the older generation and in rural areas/small towns.<br>
I haven’t seen the movie, but am a fan of the Up series–I’d like to see this eventually. Freshman just left on Thurs., so I don’t know if I can take it right now. Oddly enough, my college junior S looks just like Ellar Coltrane (without the nose jewelry).</p>
<p>I just saw it tonight, with a married friend whose second daughter just graduated from college in June. She didn’t really like it but I did. Of course I identified with the mom since I am a single mom and my kid just started college last week! (first day of classes today).</p>
<p>It made me think that I should make a plan to move somewhere with natural beauty. Maybe after my kid graduates from college. 4 years to plan!</p>
<p>I was mildly disappointed in Boyhood. </p>
<p>I expected the story to be more universal – something that anyone who has ever been a boy or raised a boy could relate to. But in fact, a lot of it was specific to Texas and specific to families who experience divorce, remarriage, and frequent moves.</p>
<p>Also, I think little would have been lost by filming this movie in the conventional way, using makeup to age the adult actors and having different child actors play the younger parts at different ages.</p>
<p>Marian, I identified with the Patricia Arquette-Mom character a lot although my one and only child is a girl adopted from China and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Kind of a road-not-taken in a way. When I decided to adopt, I recognized that I hadn’t had healthy relationships with men and I had no romantic interests throughout my daughter’s childhood. Now that she’s gone (new college freshman), I’m old!</p>