Before Sunset
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Movie Reviews of Before Sunset
Movie Review: Beautiful Sequel Extends the Realism and Genuine Feelings From the First Film
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a huge fan of Before Sunrise when it came out. I loved the simplicity and realism of two young people, who just met, walking around a beautiful European city like Vienna, and getting to know each other.
You might wonder what they have left to talk about in this film since they tackled so many subjects in the previous one. Believe me, they have plenty to talk about, and you wish that this film would never end.
The story takes place nine years after the previous film. Jesse is now a successful author who is doing a book tour throughout Europe. Paris is his last stop. He's sitting in a small book shop, answering questions from some readers, when he looks over his shoulder and sees Celine standing there. The film takes off from there as Jesse and Celine spend a few precious hours together before Jesse must be at the airport to make his flight.
Ethan Hawke (Jesse) and Julie Delpy (Celine) both co-wrote this screenplay along with the director. It's obvious that these two actors know their characters so well, that I'm sure that even they had spent those "nine years" wondering how it would end. Does Jesse come back for that six-month-later reunion? Does Celine? Do people, who really live so far away able to keep, what seems to be an unlikely promise?
I'm not going to relate anything else about the story here for those who have not seen the movie yet. This is a film where the thrill is in the journey, not the goal. Each step that Jesse and Celine make as they walk around Paris, is another step in that journey.
I recall telling friends about the first film and what it was about. They couldn't understand how a movie about two people walking around could be so good. But just like that first film, their conversations are so real and enthralling. I think part of the reason that it's so compelling is that when these two characters are together, they are themselves. There is no fakery or need to put on another face in order to impress the other. Perhaps because they are in a time crunch, they figure that there's no need to be anything other than genuine because they don't feel that they'll ever see each other again. There is a powerful scene in this film that is a recognition and a tribute to that "genuiness" and why they feel more comfortable with each other than with anyone else they've ever been with.
I've always said that sometimes the best stories are the simple ones. And this one is simple, yet again. These two simple, yet real characters, captivate the audience again with their genuine conversation that holds nothing back, and invites the audience to try and do the same.
Movie Review: Finding your soulmate in the playground of Paris...
Summary: 5 Stars
"Before Sunset" is the sequel to 1995's "Before Sunrise," which followed Jessie (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) on a magical night in Vienna. Nine years later, our protagonists are older, wiser, and more wounded by love and relationships, desperately clinging to the idea of how their lives would have changed if they had met each other as planned six months after their first encounter.
Jessie is in Paris promoting his new book at Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, on the last leg of a whirlwind publicity tour of ten cities in twelve days, when Celine shows up at the question and answer session. Floored, Jessie slips out with Celine for a quick coffee, which predictably turns into a late afternoon bathed in Paris's charms and beauty: a bateau mouche (boat ride) down the Seine ("It's for tourists!" Celine protests weakly), walking through quiet, manicured gardens, sharing a coffee in a typical Paris café, and finally, listening to Nina Simone in Celine's charming (and cluttered apartment).
The late afternoon light bathes Paris in a hazy film of romance and possibility. The locations, from narrow Parisian sidestreets, cruising under ponts (bridges) on the Seine, to landmarks such as Notre Dame, are stunning, and seem much more alive than did Vienna in the first film. Jessie and Celine have grown up: Jessie is married with children, and Celine is in a relationship with a war photojournalist, but the initial attraction in Vienna is still there, only tempered with anger and bitterness at life's unfairness. Much of the film is spent in arguments about the cruelty of love, trapped in loveless relationships, and giving up on the hope of ever meeting "the one." This film is much more grounded in reality, and as such, is missing a bit of the feel-good romance from "Before Sunrise." There is also much more graphic dialogue concerning sex and sex acts in frank, frequently explicit language, although no sex occurs in the film.
The ending, at least, is much more open-ended and positive than its predecessor, and Ethan Hawke mentions in the behind-the-scenes feature that he hopes to follow Celine and Jessie down the road, perhaps every ten years or so. The DVD comes with the theatrical trailer and a ten-minute behind-the-scenes feature which shows limited filming on location and interviews with Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, and director Richard Linklater. Bonus: the French-language track was dubbed in Québec rather than France. (For someone from Québec, there's poetic justice in hearing Parisians speak with a (loathed) Québécois accent!) Rated R for explicit sexual dialogue and profanity.
Movie Review: A love story without chick flicky nonsense
Summary: 5 Stars
I own few films on DVD, but this and Before Sunrise are two I keep and will watch again. I will preface this with saying that I can understand how some people will be bored, not because this is a boring film, but because many are accustomed to Hollywood effects and schmaltz.
In our American culture of pathologizing and medicating all forms of unhappiness, Botox injections, obsessing with appearing "perfect" and spending more time communicating with absent people via mobile devices and online, Jesse and Celine's characters seem more authentic than many actual people because, flawed, vulnerable, awkward and broken, they still connect and make no effort to conceal who they are.
Julie Delpy is stunning as Celine and full of very human contradictions. She is both graceful and awkward, idealistic and jaded, anti-pollution yet smokes, responsible and a dreamer. Many of the qualities we loved about her in Before Sunrise are still there; she didn't outgrow them but grew into them realizing that the struggles, observations and hopes that can make one emotional is what makes life beautiful. She laughs about all Parisians being unhappy, yet we get a sense that there is an allure in a romantic, intelligent brooding. She takes action by working for an organization similar to Greenpeace removing her from the category of whiner. Ethan Hawke is convincing as the smitten American; we see both the free spirit he once was along with his current, settled on the surface self.
The cinematography is fabulous. It's not as romantic as Before Sunrise and has fewer "distractions" like the drunken poet and old fortune teller (except for the barbecue party in Celine's courtyard towards the end which was very enchanting), but still is full of Parisian charms and beautiful scenes.
They are constantly on the move, turning corners, the clock also moving forward as they try and go back. It's an impossible feat to capture the past in real time outside of a book written by Jesse, so we are not allowed to get too comfortable. The slowly setting sun made me anxious and Celine keeps pointing out that he needs to catch his plane. Towards the end when they are walking up Celine's large and tall spiral stairway we get a sense of them rising above time, and they are both quiet as if aware that something big is about to happen.
Like other reviewers have written, you can feel as though you are witnessing something real. It's a place on screen that takes you to a beautiful place inside and leaves you aching for more, from them, and in your own life.
Movie Review: Natural acting
Summary: 5 Stars
The prequel "Before Sunrise" tells the story of a young man and woman in their early twenties meeting each other on the train, and their spontaneities leads to spending the day and night together, talking in depth about the world, life, love and things that interest a person of their age. From this prequel you get an idea of how the two characters, Jesse and Celine, attracted each other not just physically but personality-wise by their charms. This chance encounter also adds to the drama, and is something we all, at some point in our life, have fantasized about: meeting the person of your dream, except, however, this is not the typical cliche that the couple fall in love on the first sight and made love after getting drunk. You feel that they bonded via talking a lot and exchanging thoughts, despite these thoughts can be crazy at times.
In the sequel "Before Sunset", it is nine years down the timeline. They met again, in paris, and once again it's a chance encounter. They started catching up with each other, just like what happened in the prequel, only this time the contents of what they talk about have changed by a great deal. In the prequel, there were romantic, lots of naive and idealized thinkings. After nine years, they had both experienced the coldness and cruelty of life which are reflected in their conversations. But somehow one feels that, by expressing their frustrations to each other, like they trust each other with his/her own feeling, they regain their faith of love, and at the same time, perhaps(due to the vague ending), love itself.
I find these two films very special love stories. The conversations they talk about have been experienced by most people. And therefore, while projecting your life onto the characters, you slowly become one of them. This is the magic of this flim. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy acted naturally, which makes it almost feel like a documentary. Sunset is more intense than Sunrise, and there is more dynamics within their conversations, and more emotional ups-and-downs. Julie Delpy's preformance is much better in the sequel than in the prequel, featuring an intense release of frustration of her love life. For me, that was the climax. From then on, you feel that it's the begining of another journey between these two.
In spite of the fact that the ending was perfect, I would say,(not too explicit, but enough to get a satisfication), I still hope that there will be a sequel to Sunset. And hopefully, it won't take another 9 years or anything near to that!
For me, this film is one to watch and keep.
Movie Review: One of the Year's Ten Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Like most sequels to get the most out of this film it's helpful to have seen its 1994 predecessor Before Sunrise, helpful, but not essential. Even without knowing the story behind these former lovers the film's brilliant director Richard Linklater gives you just enough background to enjoy the interplay between these wonderfully written characters anyway. That being said I've been waiting to see more of these characters since they appeared in a brief scene in Linklater's animated film Waking Life.
The chemistry between actors Julia Delpy and Ethan Hawke is obvious and infectious. The best part, however, is the brilliant dialogue. In the first film the actors were performing a well written script by Linklater and Kim Krizan and it worked very well. In this film, however, Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke have written the dialogue for Celine and Jesse together and have breathed even more realism into the interplay between the characters. The beautiful thing is that the film-long conversation is something you could imagine overhearing in a neighborhood coffee shop. Unlike the majority of films these people actually talk like people. At one point in the film while describing his failing marriage Jesse says "I feel like I'm running a small nursery with someone I used to date", this line describes Jesse's feeling that something is missing in his life beautifully. It's also incredibly realistic and a line that I could imagine coming out of someone's mouth in a real conversation. So few films are able to achieve this realism in dialogue and it serves to represent these characters as ordinary people.
The romance in the film is also true to life. There are awkward moments, serious disagreements, and unspoken desires; in short it's a natural depiction of how men and women relate to each other romantically. Most films take the easy way out and present us with an idealized version of romance, lots of flowers, romantic tactics, and dreamy kisses. Before Sunset knows that this is not how it works. These people had a brief one-night romance nine years previously and it both enriched them and damaged them. They get back together and have feelings of hope, excitement, and lust, sounds like romance to me.
The bottom line here is that if you liked the first film you will enjoy this one. In many ways it is a better written film with a grittier realism to it. After nine years Celine and Jesse have become our friends and we care what happens to them. I only hope it won't be nine years before we find out what happens next.