Before Sunrise, directed by Richard Linklater, is as sweet a love story as one will ever see. An American in his early 20s (Ethan Hawke) is taking a train from Budapest to Vienna, where he’s scheduled to catch a flight back to the United States. He meets a French woman his age (Julie Delpy) who’s heading to Paris, and the two strike up a conversation. Once in Vienna, he convinces her to disembark with him. His plane doesn’t leave for another day, and she can catch another train to Paris in the morning. The film follows them for the next several hours as they walk and talk the night away. The screenplay, by Linklater and Kim Krizan (with uncredited contributions by Hawke and Delpy), has no central dramatic conflict. It just delicately chronicles the pair’s conversations as their rapport deepens and they fall in love. Linklater and the two actors give it a marvelous pace, and the picture has a gentle momentum. Things start out light and funny, but by the end, one is caught up in the characters’ terror at the prospect of never again seeing the other. No film has ever dramatized the experience of falling in love so well. Lee Daniel provided the cinematography. The editing is credited to Sandra Adair. The film was followed by two sequels. The first, 2004’s
Before Sunset, is an even richer effort.
Not to mention Boyhood. It's amazing how we see the characters' lives unfolding before our eyes in "real time." Usually a younger actor or actress performs a character's role while he or she was younger, but not in The Before Trilogy.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess I was not taken with BOYHOOD. The concept seemed gimmicky. The writing struck me as far more banal than deft, and the directing seemed pedestrian. I also think Linklater has begun to take his characters' pseudo-philosophical rambling seriously, and it was rather unfortunate to see the boy turned into a pretentious windbag at the end. I don't what you're getting on TV in Portugal, but many of us Americans who were skeptical of BOYHOOD were comparing it to the MAD MEN TV series and its developing portrayal of the Sally Draper character. She matures through the same age range as BOYHOOD's protagonist, and many found her far more compelling.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I didn't care for BEFORE MIDNIGHT, either. The Hawke and Delpy characters were tiresome the third time around. It was also marred by Linklater taking the characters' blather as some kind of wisdom, rather than just a way for these types of people to make contact with each other.
Thanks for commenting. I'm sure we'll find more to disagree about in the future. Always good arguing with you.
Oh, I don't disagee. Boyhood is what you say it is, but I don't think Linklater takes is characters' pseudo-philosophical ramblings seriously as you say. Also, I don't buy that part when people say "I don't like x film because character y is a jerk". Yeah, well, jerks are everywhere and art is supposed to show us what's around, warts and all. If the guy in Boyhood is what he is it's because that's where life lead him at that particuular moment in time (maybe I was that pretentious art student at 20 as well). But I agree with you about the film, I just find the long time project fascinating (if, as you say, a little forced and gimmicky and some points). Back to Before Midnight, all the conversations are small talk until... the couple drops their masks in the hotel room. I don't know if it was deliberate or not, but leading us there through a ton of fluff is kinda great methinks...
ReplyDeleteOh and I could see Mad Men here, but, for some reason, apart from some occasional zapping moments, never did...
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