Boyhood

The life of Mason from the ages of 6-18 consisting of what the title is, Boyhood. Through the years we really get thrown into his life and what type of person he becomes. Mason has struggled with moving multiple times, seeing his mother make bad decisions with men, and be an outcast in his eyes. The fact that this movie is a 12 year epic it doesn't really have anything to else going for it. It's a typical story with a typical family. Unless you look deeper. Deeper into an element that most people pay attention to and think about after its done. Dialogue. Sit there and listen to what these characters say. Because yes this movie may seem too simple about Mason growing up to be a depressed hopeless boy, but his life makes us think about life as a whole with what these characters say. For instance when Mason is about to leave for college he is talking to his mother and she ends up breaking down and starting to cry. He then goes onto ask her why she is in this state, and his mother replied with, 

"Mom:You know what I'm realizing? My life is just going to go. Like that. This series of milestones. Getting married. Having kids. Getting divorced. The time that we thought you were dyslexic. When I taught you how to ride a bike. Getting divorced... again. Getting my masters degree. Finally getting the job I wanted. Sending Samantha off to college. Sending you off to college. You know what's next? Huh? It's my fucking funeral! Just go, and leave my picture! 

Mason: Aren't you jumping ahead by, like, 40 years or something? 

Mom: I just thought there would be more." This is one scene where we really see Mason's mother confess that her life is consumed by the idea of milestones and after sending Mason off her next milestone is dying. She then wonders why there wasn't more. More of life. And after seeing that one scene it really made me stop myself and ask the same thing. I may only be a senior in high school but it doesn't change the fact that I am about to hit a milestone of high school being over. You never realize you were living in the midst of a milestone until it's over and it's gone. There is another scene where Mason is developing his pictures in the dark room and one of his teachers walks in and questions what he makes of himself retaining to his career. 

"Mr. Turlington: I'm worried about you, Mason. 
Mason: [laughs] Why is that? 
Mr Turlington: I'll tell you why: The images you're turning in, they're cool. You're looking at things in a really unique way. Got a lot of natural talent. 
Mason: Thanks. 
Mr Turlington: Yeah, but that and 50 cents will just get you a cup of coffee in this old world. I've met a LOT of talented people over the years. How many of them made it professionally without discipline, commitment and really good work ethic? 

Mason: [Shrugs] 
Mr Turlington: I can tell ya. I can count it on two fingers: [Makes A-ok hand gesture] Zero. It's not gonna happen for you, Mason. The world is too competitive. There are too many talented people who are willing to work hard; and a buttload of morons who are untalented, who are more than willing to surpass you. As a matter of fact, a lot of them are sitting in that classroom out there right now. Hm? You know what they're doing? They're doing their assignments. Which is what you're supposed to be doing, but you're not. You're in here. Now, why is that? You're special, Mason?" Now this teacher seems to be very straightforward with Mason in this scene. We could take this scene in different ways, such as the fact that the teacher is right. It's true that the world is competitive and not a lot of talented people receive recognition for it. Or you could take this scene as if this teacher is just a stick in the mud and doesn't understand that people do receive chances to do what they love doing and are very good at it. All in all the teacher has a point, the world is competitive and it is unjust. So many paths, so many directions and chances of making it out with a life we always wanted. This scene really makes you think about how you should go about living your life and actually making a name for yourself. I found a scene where there wasn't a huge impact on the viewer but it stood out in some way. 

"Mason: I finally figured it out. It's like when they realized it was gonna be too expensive to actually build cyborgs and robots. I mean, the costs of that were impossible. They decided to just let humans turn themselves into robots. That's what's going on right now. I mean, why not? They're billions of us just laying around, not really doing anything. We don't cost anything. We're even pretty good at self-maintenance and reproducing constantly. And as it turns out, we're already biologically programmed for our little cyborg upgrades. I read this thing the other day about how When you hear that ding on your inbox, you get like a dopamine rush in your brain. It's like we're being chemically rewarded for allowing ourselves to be brainwashed. How evil is that? We're fucked." Now in this section of the movie Mason is really going deep into the whole idea that humans are slowly turning into robots and that we have our brains wired to technology and our life is already taken over. While the fact remains we are in the digital age, but we are not totally wired in, not just yet. But this scene is just going over it's limits with the whole idea of life being over. It honestly doesn't prove or influence anyone what life is really about. It could have been more developed to prove the fact that life isn't all about technology and being wired down. I honestly feel as though the director really knew what he was doing with this element since the only thing this movie was judged by was the 12 year lapse. The dialogue really lets the viewer understand the questions of life and it isn't just an exciting movie that doesn't relate to anyone's life. This one can be brought into perspective of everyone and make them uncover how they view life while viewing Mason's life. This movie doesn't appeal to some people because they believe Mason's life is bland and his character is this mope kid who does dopey things. But besides the fact that Mason is a bland kid, it doesn't change the idea that his life resembles the whole idea of life.

We all go through milestones and we all ask ourselves the question: "Is this it?" And most of the time the answer is yes. We can all sympathize with these characters and their life but we have to look at our lives and ask questions and hopefully find the answers. I have to say 
I didn't find a resemblance from this movie to another. This movie is one of a kind. This movie made cinematic history. We all can learn a thing or two from this film.

MYST #4: Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky is a story about David Aames(Tom Cruise) who has inherited his fathers business at a publishing firm who lives his life as a bachelor but hasn't really inherited the one thing he truly needs;love. He then meets the love of his life at a party by the name of Sofia(Penelope Cruz). They spend the entire night talking and getting to know each other. They fall in love instantly without a single doubt about each other. Now here is where things become a bit hard to follow. David's former lover, Julie(Cameron Diaz), hears of Sofia and attempts to commit suicide with David in a car crash. Julie dies but David survives leaving his face disfigured. There is no chance to do plastic surgery for David so he has to wear a mask to cover his injuries. One night David, David's friend Brian(Jason Lee) and Sofia go out to a bar and David becomes hopelessly drunk, which results him to be left outside to rot by his friends. The next morning David is awoken by Sofia who apologizes for deserting him the night before. They pick up where the left off as new lovers and his life seems to become more content by receiving plastic surgery from which he thought was impossible and Sofia is in his life and happy as ever. 

But David is experiencing brief visions of his disfigured face, Julie still being alive, and meeting a man(Noah Taylor) at a bar who tells David he can control his life however he wishes. One day David comes home and Julie is there convincing David that she is Sofia. David then becomes angry and confused which results him to suffocate Julie while having intercourse. David is put into an insane asylum with a man who he talks to everyday for a few hours by the name of Curtis(Kurt Russell). David tells Curtis his story but of course he doesn't believe David. David then sees a commercial on TV with the man he met at the bar who works for a company by the name of "Life Extension." Curtis, David, and a bodyguard arrive at this company and speaks with a woman(Tilda Swinton) who David has had visions vaguely about. The woman goes onto explain that they freeze people just after their point of death, by placing them in a lucid dream state. David then calls tech support which results him to be talking to the man at the bar(Noah Taylor) on a impossibly tall building given two choices for what he can accept. Either he can be reinserted to the correct lucid dream state or to wake up by jumping off the building. David then chooses to jump off the building and is awoken by a voice saying "open your eyes", David then opens his eyes and the movie ends there. 

This movie is very complicated and I didn't need to tell you every little thing that has happened, but there is no simple plot for this movie. Anyway, as I watched this film I noticed a element that stood out in the matter of camera. Within this production, I noticed times where a steady cam came into place to expose David's life and dream state. In one of the scenes in the beginning, David is driving to work and notices that nobody is in times square(NYC). The steady cam then moves in on Davids car from a distance and then David steps out of the car and he proceeds to jog into the street. The camera is following David in front of him, behind him, and on the sides capturing the emptiness of this street. This shot was very good in terms of composition. It started off in a medium shot by revealing the location, and then brought into a closeup of the actor showing his confusion as to what is happening, then onto a extreme long shot of the city and it's vast emptiness. 

There was another scene where David and all the other characters in the movie were on top of the building when David was deciding his fate. The sky had an effect of how the painting did in David's apartment. It really gave us a symbolic meaning of this scene. I enjoyed it very much to see this scene come into play towards the ending, really wraps it up and explains Vanilla Sky. I noticed a scene that didn't stand out as well as it may have. It was right after Julie drove off the bridge. The camera got multiple angles of the crash into the wall and then they let the camera roll for about 10-20 seconds of just the car sitting there and then finally people in the background realize what just happened. I wish they showed what happened inside the car, but I guess they wished for the viewers get a deeper symbolic meaning of Sofia "being alive" still later in the movie. 

I feel as though the director truly needs composition and camera to show to the viewers what the movie means, the actors feel, and what we all see in life. It captures the essence of what makes a true movie. Nobody would enjoy a movie in which everything was point blank and didn't make you think. A true good movie, makes the viewer think a little because then you find out all the little secret meanings of the plot and characters lives. 

I found a distinct resemblance from this movie to Memento. These movies both make you believe that nothing is true, or reality is really real. They both also end with the beginning in some way. Memento is told backwards and ends with the beginning and in Vanilla Sky we are greeted and left with the dialogue line "Open your eyes" as if the whole movie was played backwards as well.

All in all, great thinker. 8/10