I didn't believe for one moment that she could be Mason's sister. She looked of Hispanic descent, and both her parents in the film had blue eyes. Could they have even biologically produced her?
As an actress, I found her to be quite dull.
By the way, why don't the Texas kids have a twang or southern accent? They all sound like northerners to me.
People who live in the cities and greater urban and suburban locations of Texas don't sound like the stereotypical Texan these days. I know very few people in Austin, for one example, who spoke with anything but standard American news anchor, no twang.
You'd be hard pressed to run across someone who sounds like what you would be expecting, and it would normally be the older generation now, or people in places more rural as you head away from urban centers.
I agree with you completely about Lorelei, but be prepared to be attacked by some of the dweebs on here just for making the observation.
Thanks for your informative response to my original post. Although I've been to Arizona and New Mexico, I have never visited Texas. So, I guess I was expecting the "Howdy, y'all" stereotypical speech patterns.
shareI grew up in Austin as a child in the 1970's and teen in the 1980's in the suburbs. The youngsters that had Texas accents usually lived in south Austin or attended southern Baptist churches. The older generations born before the 1960's had the accents.
But most of us had that Southern California type of speech, or rather, what most white suburban kids in America regardless of location speak
Yeah, I agree the sound I heard from most young Austinites when I lived there was more like a Southern California or even more specifically what used to be called "Valley girl" speak, even.
I think cultural stuff like LA valley girlisms spread easily across the nation with TV and radio, and of course later the internet.
Overall, Lorelei did an acceptable job. She was very good as a child, but, as others have noted, her lack of training as an actor showed more as the film wore on.
In a strange way, her lack of acting ability as a teen and young adult actually played into the realism of the film. I think this is what Linklater, the filmmaker was going for. I don't think he cast his 8 year old daughter strictly out of nepotism. He deserves more credit than that.
I related to the actors in the way I would relate to characters in a documentary. In that sense, Lorelei Linklater's awkwardness as an adolescent was authentic, in a way that a trained child actor wouldn't have been.
I loved her performance.
I'll take Punctuality
She is outright exceptional in this scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STi4cnaSVNo
I think she also got bored of the movie and didn't want to do it anymore. While I do agree she looked out of place as the daughter I didn't think she did a terrible job.
Love your profile pic.
RIP Eric
Its called subtle acting
shareI agree. She looked very out of place. The first time I saw the movie, I kept thinking there was going to be a scene where they said Ethan Hawke wasn't her biological dad.
shareThought she was good.
The brother/sister relationship was one of the best things in the movie. So darn realistic. There wasn't a single suggestion of sentimentality between them.
___
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qssvnjj5Moo
As Samantha transitioned into a teen (when she started wearing braces) she quickly became one of the worst actresses I ever laid my eyes on. She looked incredibly forced, wooden and it was like she was reading the script. I don't blame her though. We all become a bit awkward as teenagers. She was a much better actress as a kid, surprisingly. With that being said, she kinda improved as she hit her late teen years (towards the end of the movie).
Yeah, she did look out of place in the family. Her parents and brother were fair skinned with blue eyes. Maybe Linklater couldn't find anyone else to do that part? Remember, she had to be committed to the role for 12 years...
Your last sentence probably explains what was going on there, in my opinion. I think it must have been quite hard to find actors and actresses who could fully commit to being one of the major roles who of necessity really had to be there in key scenes throughout, for the entire 12 years.
Really the only child actors who remained constants were Ellar, the lead as Mason Jr, and Lorelei as his sister, and I guess it was hard enough for Linklater to find a set of parents who were willing to commit their child to something that took place every year for the next 12 years.
So that's one child actor contract, down, one to go -- and it was just easier all around to draft in one's own child. No new set of parents to negotiate with.
However, I agree she didn't look the part and she turned out not to be a very good actress either, but then, neither did Ellar to be honest. Oddly, both children were very convincing and natural when younger. As teens they brought a genuine teen ennui to the roles yet still managed to make even that seem less like good fodder for "acting" and more like poor performance.
I heard (I think it was possibly an interview with Linklater?) that Lorelei wanted to drop out halfway through and Richard had to reeeally beg her to stay part of the project. So maybe it was childhood enthusiasm at first that petered into general disinterest and to compromise, Linklater reduced her significance down a bit as they aged so she wouldn't need to be on screen as much (not unlike how a sibling might generally vanish as the kids gain independence, I suppose, especially as teenagers).
I didn't find her appearance to be much of a problem. She may not have looked much like her parents but she looked like a very convincing sister for Mason. You do see some families with unexpectedly varying levels of skin tone and that often goes down to genes that come from way down the line.
Interesting that I've seen critics say 'it's a good thing Ellar remained a good actor' because he was downright terrible in some of the later scenes. A particularly badly acted one was the scene where he was splitting up with his girlfriend, IMO. I thought he was pretty good in most of his teen years but as he started to reach adulthood it all went downhill.
heard (I think it was possibly an interview with Linklater?) that Lorelei wanted to drop out halfway through and Richard had to reeeally beg her to stay part of the project. So maybe it was childhood enthusiasm at first that petered into general disinterest and to compromise, Linklater reduced her significance down a bit as they aged so she wouldn't need to be on screen as much
However, I agree she didn't look the part and she turned out not to be a very good actress either, but then, neither did Ellar to be honest. Oddly, both children were very convincing and natural when younger. As teens they brought a genuine teen ennui to the roles yet still managed to make even that seem less like good fodder for "acting" and more like poor performance.
Really disagree with OP...I thought she was fantastic
share