Boyhood · written by Richard Linklater · 2014

At a late-night cafe, Mason and Sheena joke about a professor's lecture before wondering whether college will change them or simply be the next step.

Scene 136 of 160 · ≈ 3 min on screen · Act three

Man Alone In Booth
Sheena
Mason
Waitress

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 2:26 into a 3:02 film

The story so farBefore scene 136

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 133
The teens walk through Austin's nightlife together, passing a street musician and a woman hula-hooping.
Scene 134
Mason and Sheena watch a band sing about aging, loneliness, and feeling stuck.
Scene 135
Mason and Sheena leave the Continental Club and walk up the street.
Scene 136
This scene

136INT. CAFE - NIGHT

Sheena and Mason are seated at a table at a late-night diner, full of a variety of people.

MAN ALONE IN BOOTH

The last death at the Hoover Dam

construction site was his son, Patrick

Tierny, who died on December 20th,

1935, exactly thirteen years to the

day.

Sheena notices a table of sorority girls and practically whispers to Mason.

SHEENA

See those sorority girls over there?

I've just decided, if you delete

your Facebook page, I'm pledging.

MASON

Yeah, in just a few years that's you

(Indicates Girls)

And that's gonna be me.

He subtly indicates the Man Alone guy, still sitting at his booth, giving a lecture of some kind, with data, etc.

MAN ALONE IN BOOTH

...Also inlaid into the terrazzo

floors was a star map, a celestial

map of heavenly bodies so accurately

displayed that one could chart the

procession of the Pole Star fourteen

thousand years into the future, such

that future generations upon...

(Continuing Indistinct Under)

SHEENA (O.S.)

I wonder what his deal is. I mean,

he obviously has money to eat here.

MASON (O.S.)

He just said. He's a UT professor,

tenure and everything.

SHEENA

Look at all these people. What are

they even doing here at 3:00 in the

morning?

MASON

What are WE even doing here at 3:00

in the morning?

SHEENA

We know what we're doing here.

She dips a chip into a bowl of queso.

SHEENA (CONT'D)