In many TV shows, we see the change of each character physically over the course of the show’s span.  Not until Boyhood have we seen this kind of change take place over the course of a single movie.  To accomplish this, director Richard Linklater shot the film over 12 years, tracking the childhood and adolescence of his main character, whose age advances from about 6 to 18 over the course of the film.

The story begins with the main character Mason (Ellar Coltrane) at the nimble age of 6, living in a small town in Texas with his sister (Lorelei Linklater) and his mother (Patricia Arquette), who is divorced from their father (Ethan Hawke). From the beginning, we get an idea of the environment he will be living in over the course of the movie’s filming.

What makes the movie so interesting Linklater’s decision to base the movie around the boy, and how he would turn out over the years.  Linklater decided his script would evolve over the years to reflect the kind of person Coltrane was – if he were any athlete he might end up with a sports movie, if he were into art or music, perhaps something different.  Linklater says he would sit with Coltrane for hours talking about what was going on his life, what his thoughts and concerns were, and then write those into the script.

Over the course of the movie, we see Mason go from boy to man, taking on life’s many challenges such as being a child of divorce, having not one, but two alcoholic step-fathers, and having his heart broken.

Linklater did a really good job in capturing the overall change in time too.  It evokes memories for late teens when we see, in the opening scene, Mason playing on his GameBoy while his big sister antagonizes him with a goofy Britney Spears song and dance.  Change is also reflected through the many different fashion trends, to Mason’s changing hairstyles, to the evolving music played in the music. The critically acclaimed soundtrack, for example, featured songs from different artists over the 12 years, from artists such as Bob Dylan, to The Flaming Lips, and even Vampire Weekend.

Overall, the movie was successful and did well in the box offices, as well as among audiences, winning several Oscars.