Boyhood

2015.12.16

Author/Su Xiaoyang Pami

"Boyhood" is a movie that I have heard of a long time ago. The filming lasted 12 years and told the story of a boy's growth from the age of 6 to 18 and the changes in all aspects of his family. The film trailer has been viewed 3.4 million times on Youtube, which is a miracle for an art film.

Since filming began in 2002, for the next 12 years, director Richard Linklater will spend three or four days every year bringing the same group of actors together to discuss the lives of the characters in the script and Destiny, and was created around a young Texas boy named Mason, which was finally completed in 2013. In "Boyhood", Ellar Coltrane, as an actor, played from the age of 6 to 18; and the Mason he played also grew from 6 to 18 in the film.

The movie lasts for 165 minutes, which is the longest movie I have ever watched, but it did not feel boring at all. The film is a life composed of scattered little things, and there are not too many fierce conflicts, but there may be a few scenes that can overlap with the audience's past life. In winter, on this rare sunny afternoon, watching this movie feels like the sun has warmed my heart. I was accidentally dazzled by the sun, and saw all my growth and childhood in the light and shadow.

When I was a child, I always had a lot of strange opinions

The film begins with the young protagonist Mason lying on the grass waiting for his mother to pick him up and go home. On the way home, he Tell Mom: "Mom, I know where those wasps come from. If you shake the water into the air, it turns into a wasp."

I remember that when I was a child, I would also have a lot of cuteness Naive idea. For example, if you accidentally swallow the small black seeds in the core of an apple, an apple tree will grow in your stomach the next day; for example, as long as you make a wish on a shell and then throw the shell into the sea, the mermaid will hear your wish. ; Another example is that you must throw your fallen teeth on the roof, otherwise you will not be able to grow teeth in the coming year.

Sitting in the car home, my mother asked Mason why he crumpled his homework and stuffed it in his backpack instead of handing it to the teacher, and why he stuffed it in the teacher’s pencil sharpener. Full of rocks, why look out the window all day long. Although Mason felt a little aggrieved, he still answered every question from his mother sincerely. For example, he didn't hand in his homework because the teacher didn't say he should hand it in. He stuffed the teacher's pencil sharpener with stones because he felt that since the pencil sharpener can sharpen pencils, it should also be able to sharpen stones. He wanted to make an arrowhead to collect stones. Taste.

Faced with Mason’s answer, my mother did not criticize her, but told him how to handle things like a big friend. I agree with this education model, which has caused widespread discussion on the Internet. Compared with the "tiger father and wolf mother" concept of "talents emerge from the stick", I believe that only by communicating with children with an equal attitude can children form a more sound personality.

Childhood is generally the cleanest and purest time in a person's life. I remember that when I was a child, I also liked to draw pictures on the wall in the yard. If I had a fight with a friend, I would write "XXX is the bad guy!". If I made a new friend, I would draw two people holding hands on the wall. A smiling little man, and then draw a cute little sun on the upper left side of the little man. Before going to bed at night, I would always pester my mother to tell me the story of "The Three Little Pigs" and "The Tortoise and the Hare". Sometimes my mother would let me lie on the bed and rub my thighs, shouting: "Chang (chang)". "Grow it up~" It means hoping that I can grow taller, which made me laugh all the time.

The only worry at that time was that I didn’t want to do my homework, and I wanted to have enough money to buy candy, so I just wanted to grow up quickly.

As I grow up, I begin to understand that there are no elves in the world

Little Mason’s family is not complete. His parents are divorced and his mother has remarried. Although his biological father still has a fixed I have time to see him, but after all, it is no longer a complete home. Mason also has an older sister. They tried to reconcile their parents together, but failed. His stepfather also raised two children. At first, he was very good to Mason's siblings and his own children, teaching them the principles of life. But as he got older, his stepfather's temper became worse and worse. He required the children to do things according to his rules, otherwise he would lose his temper.

Mason gradually began to feel some loss that he could not change. So one time when he was sleeping at his biological father's house, he asked his father: "There is no such thing as magic in the world, right? It's just elves and the like, all made up by people."

I grew up I also experienced a similar episode during the process.

I remember when I was a child, my father, mother, grandma, cousin and I lived together. Later, my father went out of town for work reasons.

My grandma and my mother often quarreled for some reason, so my grandma and my mother lived separately, and my cousin followed her. My mother often comes home late because of work, leaving me alone at home.

That was in elementary school. I think I started to be addicted to watching TV at that time. Sometimes even if I didn’t sleep, I would turn on the TV, which would make me less scared.

Later, it seemed that I was no longer afraid naturally. I would just put a kitchen knife at the door, thinking that if someone broke into the door, I would use the kitchen knife to chop him. At that time, I was not much taller than the one-meter shoe cabinet at the door. But the sense of self-protection is very strong.

One time there was a power outage at home. I remember it was winter. I was wrapped in a quilt, burning an electric stove and watching TV. Suddenly, everything went dark and I couldn't see anything. My first reaction was not to be afraid, but to feel cold. Then, it was as if I had fallen into water and felt deeply lonely. After calming down, I fumbled to call my mother. She said that she had something to do at work and would be back later. I said "Oh" and went back to the room silently. That night, I cried. I didn’t have any complaints, but I suddenly felt helpless. I wanted to hold something tight, but I could only tighten the quilt. The tears from the corners of my eyes flowed into my ears, and I felt a little cold. It seems that it was also that night that I began to understand that the stories of the Flower Fairy and Thumbelina were all lies. There was no Monkey King, and there would be no seven-colored flowers that would grant wishes.

These things are not trivial. In the process of growing up, there will always be things that break your beautiful rules, small or big. They let you know that there is no magic in this world that can resist loss, and there is no magic that can create happiness. The only elves you have are yourself.

I have begun to love the stinky beauty, but I don’t like this kind of hair

Mason’s stepfather forced him to shave his head. He didn’t like it because he thought he looked like Mars. people. Because of this, I stayed under the covers and pretended to be sick and didn't want to go to school.

I empathize with this plot very much.

It must have been when I was in junior high school. My father forced me to cut my hair short, saying that it would make me look more energetic and that I wouldn’t waste too much time going to school in the morning. But actually I don’t want to cut it at all. At that time, it was the non-mainstream era when long black straight bangs, wide eyes and cute lips were popular. Short hair did not conform to the aesthetic trend at all. The key is that after I got my hair cut short, I found that my hair seemed to be naturally curved, all curving to the right. As a result, the hair on the left side was always curving outward, making it unsightly and tight. In order not to damage my hair, my mother refused to straighten it, which made me cry. As a result, I had to flatten my hair with water every morning when I went to school, and the time it took was not much less than when I had long hair.

As the class monitor at that time, I aroused a lot of discussion among my classmates as soon as I entered the classroom. I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to find a hole to crawl into. I don’t want to sit on the podium when I have to discipline myself during evening self-study.

When Mason entered the classroom with a new hairstyle, his classmates also murmured, but one girl handed her a note: "Mason, I think your hair looks kewl!" (Mason, I think your hair is cool!)" Mason laughed.

It was a very special feeling. Mason may not have understood what love was at that time, but after receiving the comfort from a lovely girl, his mood improved significantly. At that time, happiness and unhappiness seemed very simple. I would be sad about a haircut that didn’t look good, but maybe the comfort of a note could brighten my mood instantly.

As I grew up, I gradually realized that the world seemed a little different from what I thought.

As Mason grew up and entered high school, several stars popped up on his face. Acne, I also have more different ideas. He fell in love with photography and almost always stayed in the darkroom playing with his photos instead of going to class.

Later, his teacher came to the darkroom and said something like this to him, which impressed me deeply.

"I'm worried about you, Mason. The photos you submitted are great. You have a unique way of looking at things and are gifted, but your talent can only buy you a cup of coffee in this world. Just, over the years, I have met many talented people. I can tell you how many of them can become professionals without self-discipline, determination, and work ethics. I can count them on two fingers. It's over - zero. You can't either, Mason. The world is too competitive and there are too many talented people who are willing to work hard, and there are a lot of untalented idiots who are eager to surpass you. Most of them are sitting outside in the classroom, you know what they are doing? They are doing things that you should be doing but are not doing. Why are you here, Mason? ?”

In fact, I was also conceited in my youth. Mason likes photography, wants to take different works, and strives to pursue and create things that he has but others do not, so he often ignores some established rules and thinks that they are constraints on himself. The so-called rebellion is just not finding a way to get along peacefully with these rules. For example, I also liked to write a mood diary in math class for a while. I always felt that I could write something different, and I always felt that writing would be a very important existence in my life. But the result is that when I was divided into subjects in my second year of high school, I still chose science to consider my chances of getting into higher education. When I failed in math in the college entrance examination, I didn’t go to the ideal school. Later, my life trajectory, study content, and writing seemed to gradually lose contact.

There are many rules in this world. We sometimes self-righteously think that we will be the exception, but the results are often not as expected.

Most people have talent but no self-control.

In the end, you still have to make peace with the rules of this world, just like in the last 100 days of your senior year in high school, even the worst student in the class knows it’s time to read.

I left home, and I remember that I was still a teenager, but not just a teenager

Finally, Mason graduated from high school and left home to go to college.

However, what moved me most was not the photo of Mason with everyone before he left home, but what his father said during a video chat with him: "When people ask me about you, I always say to them , Mason, he is very good now."

Because my father also said this to others. It was when I was in high school, and my father was still working out of town, and my mother said to me: "You know what? ? Your dad's job is good and his salary has been increased. When others praise him, he says: 'I don't mean anything, my daughter and wife are outstanding! '" I looked at my mother smiling happily, but I lowered my head in embarrassment. , tears slowly filled his eyes for some reason. Because my studies were not in the right state at that time, but in my father's heart, I was still the outstanding daughter.

Mason’s mother asked, “Can you believe they all graduated from high school?”

Mason’s father responded, “No, I can’t believe it.

< p> Indeed, 12 years are long but delicate.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but hold down the rewind button. In 12 years, Mason has grown from a beautiful boy with baby fat and a flat nose. Entering puberty and growing into a bearded man with a vicissitudes of life like his father's, he went from playing games, watching cartoons, quarreling with his sister Samantha, watching his mother Olivia move, getting divorced, taking a degree, and finally having sex with his father. Old Mason discusses contraception, traveling alone, his first job, his first girlfriend, and his first separation.

This 165-minute movie alone is enough to make people feel emotional. It is a real 12 years in life.

We have been pushed by time to grow up. I suddenly recalled that at the banquets of all the classmates I attended after the college entrance examination, I could see their parents happy. With a smile, I finally understand that no matter how many years pass by, children will always be the greatest pride in their parents’ hearts.

Life and growth are a wonderful process for everyone. < /p>

At the end of the film, I actually felt like I was in another world. I couldn’t believe that Mason had grown up like this. It was like looking at the childhood photos in my wallet and realizing that I was no longer the person who could The girl with missing teeth chewed a lollipop and acted coquettishly to her mother. Time passed by in a flash, and before she knew it, she became an adult.

"Boyhood" is the most patient look back. , which lasted 12 years, allowed the actors to grow up simultaneously with the characters in the play. This reality alone is enough to touch people's hearts. The director vividly expressed the characteristics that Mason should have at each age stage during his growth, allowing the audience to watch While telling the story of the growth of the male protagonist Mason, he can also truly look back on his own growth.

This is the meaning of this movie to me. It makes me understand: the years are long, but it is what is happening in the blink of an eye. Time. Only by cherishing the past can you live up to your past; cherish your dreams and respect others; never forget the kindness of your parents.