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Movie 'Boyhood' on the Brevity of Life

The movie, Boyhood, a one of a kind movie filmed over 12 years, tracks Mason (actor Ellar Coltrane) as he grows up from ages 6 to 18. You feel those 12 years go by in a flash. But one of the most affecting scenes points to our need for meaning in life and hope beyond it. Eighteen-year-old Mason is packing to leave for college. His mom (Patricia Arquette) is miserable.

Here's their interchange:

MOM: This is the worst day of my life.
MASON: What are you talking about?
MOM: I knew this day was coming. I just—I didn't know you were gonna be so [expletive deleted] happy to be leaving.
MASON: I mean, it's not that I'm that happy. What do you, what do you expect?
MOM: You know what I'm realizing? My life is just gonna 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 master's degree, finally getting the job I wanted, sending Samantha off to college, sending YOU off the college … You know what's next? Huh? It's my [expletive deleted] funeral!
MASON: Aren't you jumping ahead by, like, 40 years or something?
MOM: I just thought there would be more.

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