Boyhood · written by Richard Linklater · 2014

At his restaurant job, Mason jokes with April over leftover shrimp before manager Mr. Wood pushes him back to work and offers a fry-cook role.

Scene 129 of 160 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act three

Mason
April
Mr. Wood

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 2:15 into a 3:02 film

The story so farBefore scene 129

As his mother’s homes and relationships change, Mason grows from a restless child into a young photographer learning to choose his own direction before leaving for college.

Scenes 1–11
Mason’s world is a child’s local orbit of school, siblings, play, and a family not yet displaced.
Scenes 12–23
The move exposes Mason’s wish to keep his friends and stay connected to his absent father while Olivia seeks a more secure life.
Scenes 24–74
Mason enters successive new family arrangements: Dad’s return, Olivia’s marriage to Bill, and finally escape from Bill’s house.
Scenes 75–123
He adapts to new homes and schools, tests independence with friends and work, and develops an eye for photography.
Scene 125
Mason says he wants to do what makes him feel alive instead of performing normality; Sheena’s response grounds that wish in the judgment everyone feels.
Just before
Scene 126
Jim confronts Mason for coming home late and says his role paying the bills gives him authority; Mason tells him he is not his father.
Scene 127
Olivia jokes with Mason about selling the house and shedding the belongings and obligations that keep her overwhelmed.
Scene 128
Mason gets into his truck and drives away from the house.
Scene 129
This scene

129INT. RESTAURANT KITCHEN

Music plays in the background. Mason is in uniform, he carries in a bus tub of dirty dishes, one with uneaten battered shrimp on it. He sticks one in his mouth and flirts with APRIL, a waitress.

MASON

You want one?

APRIL

Ugh. God --

MASON

(Laughing)

She didn't even touch them, seriously.

I watched her the whole time.

April takes one.

APRIL

Yeah, I bet you did watch her, you

little pervert.

(Laughing)

It's like we're on a date. Cheers.

They clink battered shrimp.

MASON

It's a night of romance.

APRIL

Yeah, except I'm not gonna kiss you.

She heads back out to the restaurant floor.

APRIL (CONT'D)

I will blow you, though.

Mason brings the dishes over to the industrial washers. His boss, MR. WOOD, storms in.

MR. WOOD

Mason! We are in the weeds out here!

MASON

I'm goin' as fast as I can.

MR. WOOD

Oh!

Then I must be confused then, cause

I just saw you chattin it up with

April when I gotta salad bar that

needs a refill, I gotta six top, two

four tops I can't use, because they

haven't been bused.

MASON

Enrique is not here. I'm tryin'.

MR. WOOD

Well, while you're tryin', we're

dyin'! What am I supposed to tell

my customers? "Oh, I'm sorry that

your table's got dirty plates on it,

but Mason's tryin'. Least that's

what he told me, after he was flirtin'