Anticipating Linklater's "Boyhood"

also jaymc otm about teacher/student parallel with the men she became involved with
it also seemed obvious that 2nd husband was obsessed with his perceived role as protector given that he was sitting on his porch hours after being off work still in his correctional officer uniform

restaurant guy was hilarious in the restaurant scene just cos of his uber-serious demeanor about the job. it wasn't unrealistic at all, it was good-natured LOLs due to familiarity...reminded me of bosses I had, though granted the culture in restaurants there is diff than in FL.

he took his job super seriously because he worked hard to get there
i don't see what's funny about that but i guess everyone has their own impressions

srs question but did you work in restaurants? maybe it's just my own experience, but the way he treated the fry cook position as if he was offering Mason the Holy Grail is what made me lol. I worked at Steak 'n Shake as a kid and them offering crap like that to me woulda been met w/ a resigned sigh of 'lord I don't think I wanna be here any longer than I have to'.

it was only that scene that was funny to me, but I did like that he showed up to his graduation party. more than just a 'boss', but a friend/mentor, etc

Zach was right upthread (too aggressively so, so I kind of missed his point)--I shouldn't have said Arquette "sought out" these men. "Ended up with" was really all I meant--just typing. So I'm halfway on what that means. I think the randomness-of-life is a reasonable explanation, but part of me still thinks something like that isn't accidental in a film, that the director was trying to indicate something about Arquette's character. Zach's own suggestion, the idea that she might miss early warning signs because of her situation as a single mother, that's also a reasonable explanation. All of this is to the film's credit--that you can look at it two almost opposite ways, and they both make sense to me.

Great point about her moving from her professor to her student, didn't give that any thought.

faculty hanging out w/ their students other than an occasional wine & cheese party on campus seems crepey to me

(but I went to a megalopolis commuter school a looong time ago, so not a universal exp obv)

I suspect LL is talking about the other restaurant guy, the Latino dude

well that makes a little more sense then! forgot there were multiple restaurant scenes.

yeah that's what i was talking about
and yeah i have worked in restaurants and the other guy was pretty funny but also ultimately very supportive of mason! like he was fritzed out from years of doing that job, but he cared earnestly at some level.

Loved restaurant boss guy.

Having him show up at Mason's graduation was great. If he'd only been granted the you're-in-line-for-a-promotion scene, I would have viewed him as a caricature; he's like Judge Reinhold's two bosses in Fast Times at Ridgemont High ("Show some pride, Hamilton"). But the graduation scene redeemed him, and made you reconsider the stuff LL says.

xpost yeah he did turn out to be an endearing figure. I can't think of any boss of mine in restaurants that took any vested interest in my life, other than offering me weed to smoke w/ them.

I did also like how in that first scene, he went from ass-chewing Mason to immediately professing his belief in him. tired of the 'hard assed boss' cliche so it was nice to see him back off once he saw that he had Mason's attention. "Compliment sandwich" i guess.

iirc when he turns up at the graduation he just hangs in the corner because he doesn't know anyone and is pretty shy about making his speech; nice to see two sides of a marginal character

hah yeah I can sympathize w/ him there. been to a few graduation parties wehre I'm like "I wanna show up cos I'm honored he invited me but whodafuq am I gonna know here?"

lamest love interest was the original boyfriend. dude was as bad an actor as the dad from Chronicle, fortunately he was gone quickly.

oh yeah I'd completely forgotten that guy

I was waiting for him to say "can't the kids watch themselves?"

I think the randomness-of-life is a reasonable explanation, but part of me still thinks something like that isn't accidental in a film, that the director was trying to indicate something about Arquette's character.

I thought it was a desire for stability. She certainly seems to explain as much to Mason after he questions her motives post-haircut.

It is interesting that the student ended w/the prof. and the prof. then w/student. Not so much for creepiness -- as they seemed to be adult/part-time colleges -- but how that could affect the relationship throughout a course/people talk. Boyhood always seeks to avoid the usual drama (as I think Clemenza says somewhere). Except with drunk husband, about 10 mins or so in the piece.

Kind of wanted Arquette to end w/Mason's restaurant manager as the one final go @ this relationship lark!

I meant that, above and beyond the desire for stability that anyone in her situation would want, the odd fact that she ends up with two consecutive guys who have a mean-drunk side to them--one fairly mild, one severe. In a normal movie, I think the director would say we already checked that box, let's make the next husband a friendly, dog-loving eco-activist who kills Arquette with kindness.

glad I kept reading and saw the "with kindness" or this might have become a Cronenberg film

ah ok, see I thought the last guy wasn't even that much of a drunk. Just a guy from a small town who really wouldn't understand anybody too much outside his ow milieu and is simply weighed down by his supposed responsibilties. The end of their relationship isn't shown either.

he wasn't a drunk so much in that he didn't get rowdy or abusive when drinking but I took the frequent scenes of him looking deadeyed with brew in hand in the morning to mean he had an issue. my guess was Arquette dropped him either because she had bad memories of her prior husband, or that he grew colder and distant (as he had little of the warmth he showed in earlier scenes). she might have been worried about his relationship with Mason too, that he wasn't a good fit for him as a father figure.

"Parade of drunken assholes" line suggests he was an alcoholic too

The end of their relationship isn't shown either.

Another thing I found odd--he just disappears--but liked; no need at that point for another break-up scene, and you already get that he's something of a problem.

willing to bet he tried to throw Mason out of the house and she told him to fuck off

Also his marginality in the story reflects his marginality in Mason's life. The first stepdad is significant because Mason's younger, it's a bigger life-change, there are step-siblings etc. By the time guy #2 shows up, Mason's already more wrapped up in his own world and can kind of shrug at the whole thing. (I had friends in high school who acquired step-parents at that age, and the relationships were similar -- everyone just tried to stay out of each other's way.)

I agree with the Film Experience blogcast: the second husband is a better character and better drawn than the first, and Linklater's generous enough to give him the one scene in which I can understand the attraction: he speaks well and is hot and young. The movie's weakest moments of drama occur in the middle between the two husbands.

Am I the only one who was getting a goofy perv vibe from the restaurant manager?

i feel like an asshole writing this, but I thought this was... not very good? it all felt so willful, like every moment (esp. in last 45 minutes or so) was goosed to produce epiphanies and revelations. much of it was charming, I never hated it, but I also was a bit bored. it doesn't help that the lead actor was pretty wooden and didn't produce a sense of individual personality.

maybe i just have a contrary bug or something, but this didn't do anything for me

Am I the only one who was getting a goofy perv vibe from the restaurant manager?

― You are exactly why people root for the apes (Eric H.), Friday, August 15, 2014 4:47 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i didn't think he was a perve. i think he was just an awkward guy. i got a bit of a closeted gay vibe.

I got the opposite impression: it was at times so devoted to an American kind of seventies fiction realism -- a lulling flatness -- that it drifted in the middle.

i think i'd prefer the movie where mason has a bite of the pot brownie and instead of having a bargain-basement epiphany he has a panic attack

the whole thing just felt so calculated. also, i kind of want my movie to be a bit more visually rigorous. linklater's capable of really interesting things visually but lately his films are kind pedestrian-looking

sorry for typos...

i can't read through this whole thread. was anyone else kind of indifferent to this? or am i the only person in the world who didn't think this was a masterpiece?

faculty hanging out w/ their students other than an occasional wine & cheese party on campus seems crepey to me

― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Friday, August 15, 2014 9:31 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think she was making pancakes, not crepes btw

My initial reaction to the film was that this was good...has some cringy moments, but not bad and certainly nowhere near amazing.

It seems most on this thread liked it but I hear no one raving that this is a cinematic masterpiece.

So why the unanimous critical rapture ?

― oscar, Tuesday, August 5, 2014 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

maybe i just have a contrary bug or something, but this didn't do anything for me

― I dunno. (amateurist),

Nah. This has been the only sane place in which to discuss this film without hyperbole.

i have to admit i was sad when patricia arquette left her monster of a 2nd husband and her kids asked if they would ever see their step-siblings again.

but overall i was barely roused... didn't really feel any emotions other than being faintly charmed and amused at times

First husband, no?

was she not married to ethan hawke?

oh right!

imo if you have to watch one new movie where "nothing happens," i'd recommend this one: http://www.fandor.com/films/the_strange_little_cat

yes, i prefer that one too

but you know, it's not an Amerindie and wasn't MADE FOR 12 YEARS

Well Linklater's aiming high, in his keep-Austin-weird way. It's not supposed to be a movie where nothing happens, it's a movie where Life Itself happens. I don't totally buy it, but the flaws are honest and obvious ones (and not surprising ones given his track record).

It still has a lot of great scenes and moments. And I think those come from the patience and the process of the whole thing.

oh shit you can watch The Strange Little Cat online. Been fruitlessly hoping it would come to DC but now I can see it at least. Cheers! xposts

Amateurist I agree with you pretty much, as noted above.