Title: Boyhood

Date: 2014

Media type: Film

Rating: R – Restricted

Audience(s): High School Age, College Age, Adults, Parents, Families

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: Coming of age story. The joys and pitfalls of growing up are seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (Ellar Coltrane), his parents (Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke) and his sister (Lorelei Linklater). Vignettes, filmed with the same cast over the course of 12 years, capture family meals, road trips, birthday parties, graduations and other important milestones.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: Because this film spans 12 years with the same actors – it lends a better view of the progression of early childhood to launching not just from the main character’s point of view, but the changes in the family as well. Though it is a fictional story, the relationships developed between the actors as a result of filming together over more than a decade is much more authentic (and the actors themselves have said that they felt like a family experiencing changes and milestones together.) The film covers the typical coming-of-age tropes, but also examines single parenting, co-parenting, divorce, remarriage, blended families, parenting styles, identity development, mid-life crises, launching, relocation, drugs/alcohol/experimentation, domestic abuse, etc.

Places to view: Youtube, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, Itunes, Netflix

Contributor: Kim Kieffer