Instagram moment!
It’s raining like crazy today!
Anyway, I’m gonna go back to August 1st. So I love my mom right, and my Dad has always encouraged the brothers and I to treat her right and do nice things for her. I was not only raised by my mom obviously, but I was educated by her too because she Homeschooled us as kids; yup, all the way up through high school. And because she has done so much for me, I have always felt there was NOTHING I could possibly do that could measure up to all she has given me.
Truth is I can’t.
And then I remembered, my mom isn’t a demanding woman; she doesn’t ask for a lot and she doesn’t flaunt her motherliness all over the place expecting certain treatment. She just loves people and that’s enough for her.
That realization gave me the kick in the pants to take her out again to see the movie Boyhood by Richard Linklater. The last movie I took her too was You Again!, that Jamie Lee Curtis versus Sigourney Weaver movie from a few years back. But we didn’t get to eat dinner that time. This time would be different.
So as broke as I was, Mom was her awesome self again, wanting to experience Baltimore and this “awesome Charles theater” I kept talking about. I should’ve known she wouldn’t care about paying for things; presence over presents. And I mean she has always provided and Boyhood was all about that, so it was kind of poetic.
So mom and I caught up on the drive down to Bmore, talking bills, summer time, entertainment news, etc. We even took a weird back road where we got to see all of these HUGE old rustic houses; she and my dad always liked walking/driving through neighborhoods admiring big houses. Finally we made it to Charles St.
Our first stop was Teatro Toppas for dinner. Its built right next door to The Charles and I’d never been there. “Small plates, big pleasure” is right! Mom and I laughed over plates of kale (how hipster of us), lamb chop w/ rhubarb BBQ sauce, fried bass, shrimp and calamari; I had never had fried anything that was so spot on and so lightly fried and it was superb! Next thing we knew it was time to see the movie, but we’d recommend Teatro Toppas to anyone in the DC/Baltimore area!
So I got a good laugh when I realized I had confused The Charles for The Senator! I was told one of these theaters was very old-school looking, with curtains and that old-timey feel. So that was a bummer, but then we were overcome with how vast the auditorium was; instead of seats stacked on each other like in traditional theaters, the rows were spaced out stretching several, several yards in every direction. Wow!
Courtesy of Google Images
Our feelings during and after the movie was just a feeling of awe: its amazing to watch a 2hour movie of kids aging 12 years in one sitting. The closest and maybe most recent experience like this was Harry Potter movies, difference being obvious – we grew up with the actors.
The story is very simple and obvious – growing up. The movie follows Ellar Coltrane as Mason from the age of 7 to 19 as his family moves to Texas to start a new life. The story follows him and his sister and mother as they reunite with their dad played by Ethan Hawke. Honestly the story could have followed any one of them in that family, or more specifically Mason’s sister, because it is just so cool to watch these same young actors grow 12 years right before your eyes.
I really don’t want to say more than that so that you can watch the movie for yourself. I admit that the movie might be more amazing as an experimental movie technically due to sticking with the same actors. The story is fine and familiar in some ways but its the behind the scenes knowledge and the way its been marketed that will put you in that theater and you will get your money’s worth for sure.
Mom and I on the drive home had a lot of fun decoding the family dynamics, mainly between the mom and dad characters. Their relationship and separate lives around Mason are very interesting to watch and Ethan Hawke is just awesome to watch since I don’t regularly watch his movies. And let me say it was awesome seeing Patricia “Kissin’ Kate Barlow” Arquette again, its been a while!
Courtesy of Google Images
Sorry I really want to get into the nitty-gritty of the movie that mom and I did but – you just gotta go see it. But its nights like that one with my mom that fill me with happiness. Most of the time I just talk to my mom about movies but rarely do I get to see any with her, lately mostly since I’m at school for another year. She had an amazing time, just her and I catching up and it was a lot fo fun sharing my kind of new “home” in Baltimore with her and showing her where my college friends hang out and getting a taste of something new. And I think that movie gave me a small taste of what it must be like to be her, to be a parent, to watch kids grow up so quick right before your eyes! I think I appreciated her love even more after that night.
She says she and Dad will go to Teatro Toppas one night soon. But I do want to take her out for mother/son bonding time again and cover everything! But I remember that love is really what matters to her and spending a night out with good food and a great movie experience just her and I was just what the doctor ordered and I look forward to out next adventure together.
Yours,
JOSIAH!
jomarkcreative 