Boyhood: On Coming of Age and Facing the Future

It begins with a simple image: a six-year-old boy laying on the grass watching the sky. He has already been through one major struggle in his life: witnessing his parent’s divorce. But little does he know that life plans to throw many more obstacles his way.

This is the beginning of Boyhood, a film that teaches us that growing older and facing the future is not as easy as the movies would have you believe.

On Coming-Of-Age

Mason (Ellar Coltrane) lives with his older sister Samantha and his mother Olivia (Patricia Arquette, who won an Oscar for this role). Mason’s father (Ethan Hawke) visits occasionally to meet the children but is still not on good terms with Olivia. Determined to join a career to be able to support her children alone, they move cities so she can go to university and hence find a better job. This sets in motion a series of events in their life that shake all of them, Mason especially. Mason not only has to suffer through two abusive stepfathers in his childhood but also face his inner fears about the future.

Many coming-of-age films focus on a specific time and milestone in one’s life. Going to high school. Graduating. Falling in love. But as all of us know by now, growing up is not an event. It is a constant. It takes time.