Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Day 15: Before Sunset (2004)

























Before Sunset
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

If I was in charge of the film business, this movie would have never been made. Thank God I'm not in charge of the film business.

I only lasted about a week after seeing Before Sunrise (one of the best of this project so far). This film takes Jesse and Celine 9 years after their amazing night together in Vienna. The last movie was open ended, but it needed to be that way. It was so romantic and perfect that to know how things turned out would most likely be disastrous. Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy managed to make a sequel that is just as real and emotional as the first.

Our two characters are very different now, but they start conversing again and fall right into their old ways. You can tell how much that night meant to both of them. Their facial expressions, stories, and body language tell so much about the personal lives they're trying to hide. Watching them slowly reveal the importance of that one night is done with great attention to detail. It was enthralling. They way that they have dealt with their feelings over the past 9 years are SO different, yet both are very understandable.

The movie was mostly made up of six minute (or so) unedited shots of dialogue. This may sound boring, but I couldn't look away. I feel for these characters. I feel the insane regret. Also, the film takes place in real time. This is an hour of their life and they are trying to cram 9 years of lost time into this afternoon. You can feel them grasping onto their few remaining minutes together (I was doing the same).

The ending will split people's opinion on this movie. Kaylen usually doesn't like open ended movies, but she was somewhat satisfied. The ending managed to escape the two likely extremes. It was not unrealistically romantic and idealistic. It was not horribly real and depressing. It was...well, you should really just watch it.

Lesson learned: You can't escape the past, so don't try.



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