During the 1960s, the famed physicist, cosmologist, and author, Stephen Hawking, finds love during his studies at the University of Cambridge, with Jane Wilde. They laugh, they dance, and they discuss science and theories, and all the while fall head over heels for each other. As their relationship grows, Hawking starts to realize that something isn’t quite right with him physically, but he keeps ignoring any signs of worry, until one day he falls flat on his face in the middle of the open campus. After being rushed to the hospital, and undergoing tests, doctors give him the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He is then given only 2 years to live, and thus forces Jane to leave him, as his diagnosis will be too difficult for her to bear. Although, scared and heartbroken, Jane is too in love to leave. She pleads to stay and vows to stand by him, and care for him. His short time that he was given by doctors also influences him to study time and black holes relating to space. Director James Marsh allows his audience to take a look into this beautiful and fascinating story of a young couple who have nothing but love and commitment to attempt to fight this debilitating disease and possibly defy the odds.
In the year 2002 actor Ellar Coltrane is a 7 year old boy with an opportunity to be a part of what some critics are calling, cinematic history. Coltrane portrays Mason, a boy who grows up on screen for the next 12 years of his life in Academy Award nominated director Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. The film showcases the ensemble cast for over a decade focusing on the effects of living in a broken home and what it can do to a young boy and his family.
