Before Sunset
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Movie Reviews of Before Sunset
Movie Review: A Waltz for a Night
Summary: 5 Stars
So, we continue with the psychosexual primer for guys (How to Get the Girl of Your Dreams in One Easy Step). I know that women may value this movie, which is natural, but I found an extraordinary number of guys falling for this "romance." I like they, could relate wholly or not at all. The script may seem boring for Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, but that is only true when you find the concept of being alone with a beautiful woman in an intense one-on-one boring. This concept may be terrifying to some guys. Otherwise, you will find the patience to endure the cinematic buildup to the inevitable end: The soul mates converge.
Celine: Baby, you are going to miss your plane.
Jesse: I know
She had been urging him for hours to watch the time. He would always respond with, "I have time. I will not miss my plane."
This is the denouement of both films, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, for me. Jesse finally comes to the realization that he must by fate drop everything he had planned and start then and there with Celine, and for more than just one night.
Their generation is well know for angst and hyper analytical approaches to life. At last I, being a baby boomer, can say that I finally understand and appreciate Generation-X, to a small degree. For the longest time I thought the majority were ultra materialistic snobs with serious entitlement issues. And more murderous than your average Caesar. They were/are inversely bitter relative to the amount of things they are given (more things less bitter, less things more bitter). But they also inherited some heinous social ills from the previous generations. Anyway, the attitudes of Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke perfectly reflect Gen-X's problems and solutions.
I was happy to see that that first night of love endured and nine years later culminated at her apartment fulfilled. To me, they reunited "just in time," and will never part again.
Movie Review: THE BEST FOREPLAY IS VERBAL
Summary: 5 Stars
Like its prequel, Before Sunset is an hour and a half of delicious colloquy and a chemistry so effortless you'd probably find this film in the organic section of your local store.
To recap, they had met on a Eurorail trip to Vienna, had a one night romance that was innocently adoloscent but never vulgar, one that culminated into a pact to meet six months later.
As we pick up nine years hence, they've both perceptibly come of age. He's living a farce of a marriage, she seems numb to her erstwhile buoyant mien. Once again, we get a healthy dose of casual-on-the-surface conversation that seems determined to breathe in its own space and spew pearls of wisdom such as "Memory is a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the past".
As the minutes tick by before he catches his plane, so do the confessions, building to a do-they-or-don't-they crescendo. Teasingly frustrating in its ambiguity, the final scene -— facile, heady, sexy as Lycra -— avoids a conventionally neat conclusion, instead tantalizing us with yet more questions. As Delphie's character herself mentions during the chitchat, such a denouement could mean different things to different people depending on whether one's a romantic optimist or a presumptuous cynic.
If you ask me, it works superbly. Though the film has much more going for it. There're some stunning acting sequences with uninterrupted takes for minutes on end. There's that familiar, delectable brand of wit that'll keep you glued. There's even an acoustic guitar performance at the end by Delphie herself, and my, what a breathtaking moment that is.
I hope they make a Before Next Sunrise 10 years from now, and a Before Next Sunset 20 years hence. I'm curious how this plays out. Plus I'm addicted to this rare glimpse of intelligent, non-Disney romance from Hollywood.
Must-watch, at least once.
Movie Review: A love song to love and to Paris
Summary: 5 Stars
"Before Sunset" is a lovely piece of film making that feels like an 80-minute exercise in eavesdropping on a conversation between two real, knowable people--not actors on the silver screen. The movie is a rarity in this age of fifty-million dollar budgets, graphic sex, extravagant sets, and cheesy special effects (none of which I particularly mind; "Sunset" is just a nice departure from the latest multiplex thriller). It never feels contrived, the way most movie romances do; the (abundant) conversation that makes the movie work is flowing and genuine. The characters seem real, not like paid actors at all (attribute that to Hawke and Delpy's perfect on-screen chemistry). I never got the feeling that either were just reciting lines from a script someone else had written (the director and two lead actors are given full writing credit; thus, the feeling of authenticity). This sentiment of realism holds particularly true toward the end of the film, when Celine angrily shouts at Jesse that he ruined things for her, that their night together nine years ago was as good as it'll ever be, and now she's forced to unfavorably compare everything to that. How can anyone act that without feeling it? I wondered.
As its prequel, "Before Sunrise," was nicely set in Vienna, Paris is a lovely backdrop for "Before Sunset," with (blissfully) nary a shot of the Eiffel Tower in sight and not a note of the typical "fall in love in Paris" accordion music. But the cafes, shops, cobblestone streets, and River Seine are all present in their authentic glory.
I thought the ending, in fitting with the rest of the film, was perfect. What ultimately happens is settled in my mind, which may vary from another's interpretation. Isn't it nice to be able to decide the outcome instead of being force-fed the answers? It will be a long time before I see another movie I enjoyed as much as "Before Sunset."
Movie Review: Wow.... An amazing film and one of the year's best.
Summary: 5 Stars
Who could have guessed that Richard Linklater's next movie after the Jack Black vehicle School of Rock would be this little gem, Before Sunset? I love, love, love this movie. A sequel to Linklater's 1995 film Before Sunrise, it reunites the two lovers, Jesse and Celine, in Paris nine years later. The two have much catching up to do and only a little over an hour to do it in.
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are both wonderful and really seem to be playing themselves rather than fictional characters and their chemistry together is great. Indeed the whole film feels like a documentary about the chance meeting of two lovers. One reason that I loved the film is that I really, honestly cared about the characters and I was very interested in where they had been and where they were going. It is a dialog heavy film indeed. In fact, it's almost a dialog only film, just as Before Sunrise was. However, every line of dialog is important and every word that is spoken matters because these words are all that the two characters are granted.
The fascinating thing about the two films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset is that they are a portrait of an entire relationship. Two chance meetings, one over the course of a day and one over the course of an hour and fifteen minutes. That is Jesse and Celine's entire brief relationship. In Before Sunset, when they've gone their separate ways and then find themselves meeting again, they realize that there is no one else they would rather be with, even if they're only allowed to be together for a day at a time.
I hope that Richard Linklater will bring these characters back again. I would love to see a whole series of films starring them. I think this is one of the year's best films and I hope to see it get some Oscar nominations next spring.
Movie Review: When its right to make a sequel
Summary: 5 Stars
A remarkable captivating, excellent scripted and sensitively acted film.
Before Sunset is simple story on the surface. We all at times wonder 'what if?' about a former relationship that did not end in closure. Nine years on, both lovers have progressed in their lives and into different relationships. But they are captivate by each other in an unexpected meeting. This film lives out that wonder and answers so many of the questions we would have if we ever had that opportunity and the maturity to face an unfinished love.
For such a simple and central plot it is remarkable that the film has subtle sub-plots. Pay careful attention to the opening. It sets the scene and raises questions, not only about the plot but also about the structure used to tell the story. Listen to the music and appreciate its significance as part of the story. A very skillful and intelligent film.
The film is all the more delightful by the obvious personal collaboration between three people who together wrote, acted and directed the film. Each personally grew through the process as many are privileged to do in making real art. For that reason the film comes across as real life with real but not excessive emotions portrayed by endearing and enduring characters.
Before Sunset shows when and how to make a sequel. It builds on the original. It is a film to watch again and again for what it helps us to understand about our lives may never have the opportunity to put into words let alone live out.
After you have watched 'Before sunset', you will be wondering about the next 'episode'. The plot will again be predictable because that's life, but told by these skilled storytellers you will want to watch it and find out.
just Jack